transport business because of commercial interests in warehousing, consolidating
and distributing freight.
115 Commercial motivation prompted carriers to mobilize the
transport chain from the seller’s to the buyer’s warehouse.
116 Whether or not they
are directly involved as multimodal carriers, sea carriers are likely to be agents for
multimodal transport operators (MTO).
117 Under the auspices of UNCTAD rather
than UNCITRAL, the United Nations Convention on International Multimodal
Transport of Goods was signed in 1980.
118 This convention dealt with the conflicts
between the unimodal-governing carriage conventions, but has been unable to attract
the minimum number of ratifications or accessions to bring it into force.
119 The
scope of application of the Rotterdam Rules extends to multimodal transport
120
which is governed by a number of mandatory rules of other transport modes.
Related conventions provided various limitations of liability and defences for
carriers of modes of rail,
121 air
122 and road
123 transport.
124 One argument is that
Rotterdam Rules merely addresses, and only to a limited extent, legal conflicts
among the conventions of different modes of carriage on multimodal transportation.
115 Ibid, p. 305.
116 Bauchet (1998) (mentioning Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva, Switzerland,
12–30 November 1979, United Nations Conference on a Convention on International Multimodal
Transport, part I (B), art. 1(2), U.N. Doc.TD/MT/CONF/17.201.,141).
117 Ibid.
118 United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods, Geneva, 24 May
1980, UN Doc.TD/MT/CONF/16; Wilson (2010), pp. 253–259 (examining that the multimodal
transport and the UN Multimodal Convention 1980).
119 Ibid.
120 The formal name of the Rotterdam Rules is “United Convention on Contracts for International
Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea”.
121 Convention Concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail (‘CIM’), 25 October 1952, 241 U.N.T.S.
336; The initials CIM stand for its French name “Convention Internationale concernant le transport
des Marchandises par chemin de fer”. Retrieved 17 June 2018, http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/cim.rail.
carriage.contract.uniform.rules.19xx/doc.html. The CIM is modified and incorporated as Appendix
2 to the COTIF from May 1999. International Convention Concerning the Carriage of Goods by
Rail (‘COTIF’), 7 February 1970, 1101 U.N.T.S. 226.
122 Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air (the
‘Warsaw Convention’), 12 October 1929, 49 Stat. 3000, 137 L.N.T.S. 1. The original Warsaw
Convention of 1929 was first amended in Hague in 1955, and then in Montreal in 1975. In 1999, a
new Convention, known as the ‘Montreal Convention’, on international air carriage was concluded
in Montreal and on 28 June 2004, came into force in the European Union. See Chuah (2009),
pp. 367–371.
123 UN, Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (‘CMR’,
abbreviated from the French ‘Convention relative au contrat de transport international des
marchandises par route’), 19 May 1956, 399 U.N.T.S. 189, amended by the 1978 Protocol.
Chuah (2009), pp. 379–388.
124 E.g. carriers’ liability for delay: Warsaw Convention Article 19 (stating that under the Warsaw
Convention the carrier shall be liable for delay in the air transportation of passengers, baggage, or
goods); the CMR for truck transport, Article 17.2. See also the limitations of liability of carriers are
different in related conventions. See more conflicts in Ulfbeck (2010), pp. 34–37.
774
L. Zhao
and distributing freight.
115 Commercial motivation prompted carriers to mobilize the
transport chain from the seller’s to the buyer’s warehouse.
116 Whether or not they
are directly involved as multimodal carriers, sea carriers are likely to be agents for
multimodal transport operators (MTO).
117 Under the auspices of UNCTAD rather
than UNCITRAL, the United Nations Convention on International Multimodal
Transport of Goods was signed in 1980.
118 This convention dealt with the conflicts
between the unimodal-governing carriage conventions, but has been unable to attract
the minimum number of ratifications or accessions to bring it into force.
119 The
scope of application of the Rotterdam Rules extends to multimodal transport
120
which is governed by a number of mandatory rules of other transport modes.
Related conventions provided various limitations of liability and defences for
carriers of modes of rail,
121 air
122 and road
123 transport.
124 One argument is that
Rotterdam Rules merely addresses, and only to a limited extent, legal conflicts
among the conventions of different modes of carriage on multimodal transportation.
115 Ibid, p. 305.
116 Bauchet (1998) (mentioning Conference on Trade and Development, Geneva, Switzerland,
12–30 November 1979, United Nations Conference on a Convention on International Multimodal
Transport, part I (B), art. 1(2), U.N. Doc.TD/MT/CONF/17.201.,141).
117 Ibid.
118 United Nations Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods, Geneva, 24 May
1980, UN Doc.TD/MT/CONF/16; Wilson (2010), pp. 253–259 (examining that the multimodal
transport and the UN Multimodal Convention 1980).
119 Ibid.
120 The formal name of the Rotterdam Rules is “United Convention on Contracts for International
Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea”.
121 Convention Concerning the Carriage of Goods by Rail (‘CIM’), 25 October 1952, 241 U.N.T.S.
336; The initials CIM stand for its French name “Convention Internationale concernant le transport
des Marchandises par chemin de fer”. Retrieved 17 June 2018, http://www.jus.uio.no/lm/cim.rail.
carriage.contract.uniform.rules.19xx/doc.html. The CIM is modified and incorporated as Appendix
2 to the COTIF from May 1999. International Convention Concerning the Carriage of Goods by
Rail (‘COTIF’), 7 February 1970, 1101 U.N.T.S. 226.
122 Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to International Carriage by Air (the
‘Warsaw Convention’), 12 October 1929, 49 Stat. 3000, 137 L.N.T.S. 1. The original Warsaw
Convention of 1929 was first amended in Hague in 1955, and then in Montreal in 1975. In 1999, a
new Convention, known as the ‘Montreal Convention’, on international air carriage was concluded
in Montreal and on 28 June 2004, came into force in the European Union. See Chuah (2009),
pp. 367–371.
123 UN, Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (‘CMR’,
abbreviated from the French ‘Convention relative au contrat de transport international des
marchandises par route’), 19 May 1956, 399 U.N.T.S. 189, amended by the 1978 Protocol.
Chuah (2009), pp. 379–388.
124 E.g. carriers’ liability for delay: Warsaw Convention Article 19 (stating that under the Warsaw
Convention the carrier shall be liable for delay in the air transportation of passengers, baggage, or
goods); the CMR for truck transport, Article 17.2. See also the limitations of liability of carriers are
different in related conventions. See more conflicts in Ulfbeck (2010), pp. 34–37.
774
L. Zhao