Besides memorializing an agreement to perform certain tasks, an important function of vessel contracts and marine terminal contracts is to apportion the risks attendant to performance between the contracting parties. This Article addresses the issue of how and to what extent risks may be allocated in vessel and marine terminal contracts. An understanding of the ways in which the applicable statutes and case law permit or forbid the parties to allocate the risks, for example, of loss or damage to cargo, of unseaworthiness of the vessel, or of injury to a crewmember, is essential to the effective drafting and negotiation of these contracts.