An accessible introduction to multimodal contracts of carriage, Multimodal Transport Law works from general principles toward specific, technical problems. Adopting an international approach, it addresses such key topics as: Contracts of carriage Transport documents The parties to a contract of carriage International conventions on the carriage of goods Multimodal situations covered by unimodal conventions Conflict of laws The rules applicable to the individual legs of multimodal contracts of carriage The Rotterdam Rules Providing a close examination of the relevant rules, regulations and case law, this is essential reading for law students, useful for claims handlers and practitioners, and of interest for academics and legislators seeking a better appreciation of multimodal contracts of carriage.

We only have to look around us on the road while we travel to work or home, or to use our eyes at a railway station to know that the transport of goods takes up a lot of the room our modern day infrastructures provide. Sometimes perhaps a little too much; nowadays congestion seems to be the rule rather than the exception. This is an uncomfortable side effect of the explosive growth freight transport has experienced the last few decades1. Modern day transport offers a considerable array of possibilities; possibilities that are for the most part taken for granted by the general public that enjoys their benefits. The average European would not be surprised to learn that the fruit on offer in the local supermarket originates from another continent for instance. The idea that most of the things we use in our daily routine stem from a distant source, such as a cell phone from Japan, a trendy pair of designer jeans made in China or a glass of Australian wine, seems completely natural to us. Clearly the contemporary transport industry offers us a lot of benefits besides such discomforts as congestion and pollution. In earlier times, before machinery such as the steam engine had been invented it was hardly cost effective or even feasible when it came to perishables to carry goods halfway around the world if they were not at least valuable and extraordinary2. The limitations set on trade by the transport structures available did more however than simply curtail the range of affordable products on offer for the public. They also had a negative effect on the location of the industry, limited transport possibilities and forced production to take place near or in heavily populated areas to secure the necessary workforce and market possibilities. After all, industrial decentralisation is only feasible if there is an infrastructure capable of supporting a cost effective movement of goods and employees3 ...

Freight Forwarding and Multimodal Transport Contracts, 2nd Edition, is a comprehensive guide to the law in relation to contract forms and terms created by operators, trade associations or international bodies such as the UN and used as a basis for trading conditions by freight forwarders, logistics suppliers, combined or multimodal transport operators and container operators. This second edition examines the latest editions of contract forms and terms, both where their object is the supply or procurement of multimodal carriage, as well as where they are directed to the use of combined transport equipment (ie containers, swap bodies). Of particular prominence will be a detailed examination of the latest versions of conditions used by the principal UK forwarding, logistics, intermodal and container operators such as the British International Freight Association (BIFA) conditions 2005A and the current Freightliner Conditions as well as updates on many of the conditions in use and legal developments relevant to them, eg Road Haulage Association Conditions 2009, Maersk Conditions of Carriage, TT Club Conditions.

The Contract of Carriage: Multimodal Transport and Unimodal Regulation provides a new perspective on how to approach the question of multimodal transport regulation regarding liability for goods carried. Unlike previous literature, which has approached the issue of applicability from a strict interpretation-of-the-convention angle, this book will analyse the issue from a law of contracts perspective. If goods are damaged during international transport, the carrier’s liability is governed by rules laid down in international conventions, such as the CMR convention, the Hague–Visby Rules and the Montreal Convention. Such rules apply to certain modes of transport, to contracts for unimodal carriage. When goods are carried under a multimodal contract of carriage, which provides for carriage by more than one mode of transport, the question is whether these rules are applicable to transport under multimodal contracts of carriage. This book investigates the rules of carrier’s liability applicable to unimodal transport, and whether these rules are applicable to carriage under multimodal contracts of carriage, with focus on the actual contract of carriage. This unique text will be of great interest to students, academics, industry professionals, and legal practitioners alike.

Written by a combination of top academics, industry experts and leading practitioners, this book offers a detailed insight into both unimodal and multimodal carriage of goods. It provides a comprehensive and thoroughly practical guide to the issues that matter today on what is a very complex area of law. From the papers delivered at the 8th International Colloquium organised by Swansea Law School's prestigious Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, this original work considers current opinions, trends and issues arising from contracts of carriage of goods by sea, land, air, and multi-modal combinations of these, not to mention the legal position of vital participants such as freight forwarders, terminal operators and cargo insurers. The topics under discussion range through issues such as paperwork, piracy, liability for defective containers, damage in transit, the CMR Convention, and the possible effects of the Rotterdam Rules. An indispensable resource for transport lawyers, industry professionals, academics and post-graduate students of maritime law.

Bringing a fresh, comparative approach to transport documents used in the carriage of goods by sea, this book covers bills of lading, sea waybills, ship’s delivery orders, multimodal transport documents, and electronic transport documents. The book covers historic developments, current conventions, and thoughts for the future on these transport documents; and delves deeply into the legal issues concerning them. It represents a comprehensive compilation of case and statute law from around the world on this subject. In addition to English law, the book covers American, French, German, and Italian laws, as well as the laws of several East Asian jurisdictions (China, Japan, South Korea). Primarily, the book will be of use to maritime law scholars and students, and lawyers who deal with shipping. It may also be of interest to international traders, banks, and ship masters and officers.

Uniformity of Transport Law through International Regimes addresses the problem of uniformity of transport law and the potential solutions at international and EU levels. It concerns transport conventions and other instruments dealing mainly with carriage of goods by sea and multimodal transport as well as examining the Rotterdam Rules as one of the solutions towards uniformity in carriage of goods law. The discussion on international uniformity in transport law is complemented by an examination of regional harmonization in the context of EU law-making and jurisprudence in the field of international transport. The comparison between international and regional regimes reveals the complexities in application and interpretation of the certain transport conventions which is detrimental to achieving uniformity.

Now in its sixth edition, this key text provides a comprehensive analysis of the international carriage of goods by road under the provisions of the CMR Convention. The author offers unparalleled coverage of both English and European case law in a text that is praised for its accessible, user-friendly style. This new edition is fully updated with the very latest in case law both internationally and on a domestic level, including: New developments on the applicability of the CMR to multimodal transport, as per the Godafoss case The concept of the "wilful misconduct" in failure to guard the vehicle Thorough analysis of TNT Express Nederland BV v AXA Versicherung AG It also provides new coverage of the impact of e-commerce on road haulage. This book is an invaluable reference tool for transport practitioners with an international and domestic client base. It is also a useful guide for academics and students of the carriage of goods by road.

In this book, the business of international freight forwarding is examined from both a theoretical and empirical point of view with a special emphasis on multimodal transport chains, including sea or air transport operations. In such contexts, the freight forwarder is always considered "The Architect of Transport", but this intermediary role seems to be largely neglected in research to date. Therefore, relevant concepts from economic theory and economic sociology are employed to produce both an intermediary and a network perspective of freight forwarding in order to provide a better understanding of this kind of transportation business. Furthermore, its intermediary role in such inherent network structures is explored by mapping relationship patterns in a stylized model framework applied to a questionnaire-based sample collected among freight forwarders engaged in such multimodal transport chains in Germany (especially from Hamburg, Bremen and Bremerhaven) as well as in Austria in 2003.