- 10 Aug 2017
MEI Transsystemic Law Cluster: Multimodal Transport Law: Systems and Rules
(This event is organised by MEI’s Transsystemic Law Research Cluster, as part of its monthly internal seminar series.)
Abstract
A multimodal contract of carriage requires more than one means of transportation to carry the goods to their destination. As there is (currently) no international convention on multimodal transportation, the parties to such a contract in principle enjoy freedom of contract. In practice, however, it is somewhat more complicated than that. Some multimodal contracts of carriage are mandatorily governed by unimodal conventions, see e.g. article 18 of the Montreal Convention. Sometimes, an individual leg within a multimodal contract of carriage is governed by a mandatory unimodal convention, e.g. Quantum Corp Inc. v. Plane Trucking Ltd [2002] EWCA Civ 350; [2002] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 25. On other occasions, a multimodal contract of carriage may be subject to a mandatory network system, e.g. in Germany and the Netherlands, or under the Rotterdam Rules (not yet in force).
About the Speakers
Dr Michiel Spanjaart was a Post-doctoral Fellow at NUS from August 2013 to July 2015 and a Visiting Professor at NUS in August 2015, where he taught an intensive elective course on Multimodal Transport Law. He obtained his LLB at the University of Utrecht in 1996 and his PhD at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam, in 2012. His thesis, Vorderingsrechten uit cognossement (“Title to sue under bills of lading”), was published as a book by Paris Uitgeverij in 2012. Dr Spanjaart is currently an Assistant Professor at Erasmus University as well as an advocate with Kneppelhout & Korthals Advocaten. Prior to joining Kneppelhout & Korthals Advocaten, he was a partner with Padberg Spanjaart Advocaten, and before that with DLA Piper. His practice areas include trade, transport and insurance. Routledge will publish his new book, Multimodal Transport Law, in August/September 2017.
