One of the most important new features of the 1978 Hamburg Rules may be noted from its very title, "Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea." Hence, while the 1924 Brussels Bills of Lading Convention (the "Hague Rules") applies to "certain rules of law relating to bills of lading," the Hamburg Rules apply to the contract of carriage as such. The Convention seeks to establish a minimum protection for shippers. It has been suggested that this aim may be endangered if the present practice of issuing bills of lading to evidence the contract of carriage should in the future be changed or even discontinued. Is this a likely development? The problem of transport documentation has been dealt with elsewhere. Consequently, I will merely indicate, as my own personal belief, that bills of lading in the future will only be used to cover bulk shipments and not consignments of general cargo shipped in liner trade. It is also probable that the present documentary procedures will be replaced by simplifications based on the transmittance of information by means of electronic data processing. In fact, this development has already taken place even in transocean maritime carriage.1 The new Convention will apply whether a bill of lading is issued or not. However, the Convention provides (art. 14(1)) that a bill of lading must be issued upon the shipper's demand. The shipper does not have to request a bill of lading in order to obtain the minimum protection of the Convention, since the very contract of carriage brings the mandatory provisions of the Convention into operation.