Aspects of multimodal transport in the rotterdam rules

• Author: Alina Sulicu
• Position: Assistant professor
• Pages: 45-49

ASPECTS OF MULTIMODAL TRANSPORT IN THE ROTTERDAM RULES

Assistant professor, Phd student Alina SULICU

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Abstract

The United Nations Convention on Contra cts for the Interna tional Carr iage of Goods Wholly or Partly by

Sea (hereinafter – The Rotterdam Rules or Convention) signed on 23 September 2009 is ta king a novel approa ch to

internationa l trade. It might be the reason why it ha s not received positive ac knowledgement from the signatories,

law experts and other interested parties. However, one might wonder whether the trade itself stayed novel-free

during the past several decades. It should not come a s a surprise tha t it ha s not. Tackle-to tackle approach is no

longer applicable to a majority of contracts concluded that provide for delivery to the consignee’s door step, as of

1970 container ships a nd container terminals dominate cargo handling in por ts and onboard the ship, electronic

communication and documentation is becoming a common feature in the current trade. Even if there a re more

developments to be na med, the aforementioned three make the regime under the Ha gue ,Hague-Visby and Ha mburg

Rules appear outdated. So is the unfamiliar approac h as envisioned by the Rotterdam Rules really such a big failure?

Key words: multimodal tra nsport, the Rotterdam Rules, shipping industry Hamburg Rules, the European Union

JEL Classification: K23

Multimodal transport, normally defined as a contract of carriage involving more than one

mode of transport, has been on the international regulatory agenda for many years. To date there

has been no success in achieving uniformity of law in its international regulation

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. When the new

maritime Convention on International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly bySea (the Rotterdam

Rules)

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breaks with unimodal tradition and includes ”carriage by othermodes of transport in

addition to the sea carriage”

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, it embodies a big step forward. However, it is clear that the main

area of the Convention is still maritime carriage. The multimodal partis only an `addition', a fact

that has given the Rotterdam Rules the position of a `maritime plus' convention. Nevertheless, if

the Rotterdam Rules enter into force the global transportindustry will be provided with a legal

instrument harmonising the rules on carrier liability in `wet' multimodal transport, or multimodal

transport with a sea leg. The parties to the Rotterdam Rules could be both the European Member

States as well as the European Union (EU) as such (see Rotterdam Rules Articles 88, 93). Up to

October 2010 only the following Member States have signed the Convention: Denmark, Greece,

France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain. We might see a split in the traditional

Nordic transport law cooperation: Denmark and Norway have signed; Finland, Sweden and

Iceland have not. From an international point of view it is interesting that the United States has

signed but China has not.

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So far, however, no state has ratified the Convention. If a sufficient

number of states do ratify (under Article 94 of the Convention 20 ratifications are required) and

the Rotterdam Rules become applicable in any of these countries, there will certainly be an

impact on the EU.

Currently the European Commission is working towards a form of transport that is:

. . . sustainable, energy-efficient and respectful of the environment. [The] . . . aim is to disconnect

mobility from its adverse effects. This means, above all, promoting co-modality, i.e. optimally

combining various modes of transport within the same transport chain, which is the solution for

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Alina SULICU „Constantin Brâncoveanu” University, Piteti, alinasulicu@yahoo.com

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Ralph de Wit Multimodal Transport Carrier Liability and Documentation (Lloyds of London Press 1995) p 1.

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M Hoeks Multimodal Transport Law: The Law Applicable to the Multimodal Contract for the Carriage of Goods ( Kluwer The

Netherlands 2010) at 19±22.

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United Nations Convention on International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (the Rotterdam Rules)

(formally adopted by UN General Assembly December 2008, annexed to General Assembly Resolution 63/122

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Rotterdam Rules art 1.1.