Multimodal transport in the new millennium

Abstract

Consignors of goods in international trade want their containers to move door to door whether by land, sea or air — smoothly, seamlessly and at predictable cost. What they actually get from the law is at best a jerky roller coaster: a series of contracts, one for each mode or stage of the journey, contracts with various people and with liability that varies too. All agree that the law should change but attempts to agree on an entirely new multimodal regime have failed. Recently attempts have been not to start again but to expand an existing and established regime. The latest of these, the UNCITRAL draft, is essentially maritime: it applies to the sea phase but and goes further to apply door to door except when its path is blocked by compulsory unimodal law. Has Venus at last arisen from the waves? And what will happen when Beauty meets the Beast in the form of CMR? This article addresses the problems that will be encountered by an ambitious amphibious instrument of this kind. — problems of integration, of compatibility with local legal culture, and of methodology.