Carrier’s liability under the international conventions for the carriage of goods by sea

As is well known, there is no international convention for the carriage of goods in general. Each mode of transport counts on one or several international conventions that specifically regulate the provision of international transport by sea, rail, road or air. Thus, multimodal freight transport are characterised by a patchwork of different legal regimes that represents a huge challenge for the growth of multimodal transport industry. The paper aims to analyse the latest, but still not in force Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (the Rotterdam rules) that should provide global solution for multimodal carrier liability. Comparison of the carrier’s liability in the former conventions relating to the international carriage of goods by sea and other rules are also discussed.