Carriage of Goods by Sea Act

This "package limitation" has become one of the most contentious and litigious areas in the field of cargo damage, particularly as it relates to the transportation of goods by ocean shipping containers.

It is this imbalance, both in the relative bargaining power of cargo owners, and the superior bargaining power of shipowners, and the imbalance between $500 per container and the true value of a shipment which has led to countless lawsuits and judicial opinions over the "package limitation" problem.

In so doing, litigation concerning limitations on liability became virtually non-existent outside the United States.

Many types of cargo are not shipped in packages such as automobiles, yachts, cranes, and heavy construction equipment.

For those cargoes, Congress had intended[citation needed] the limitation on liability for shipowners to be $500 per 100 cubic feet (2.8 m3).