Abstract:

Nowadays, the importance of transportation contracts from door to door is increasingly increasing in the linear transportation application. However, due to the lack of an international legal system that regulates multimodal transportation, such contracts remain outside the scope of existing international regulations. The Rotterdam Rules aim to extend its scope to include the transportation activities carried out by other means of transport, such as land, rail, waterways and airways before or after a maritime journey, and to cover the transportation agreements from door to door. To this goal, the Rotterdam Rules do not seek any form conditions in contracts that will enter into the scope and are based on the definition of a highly flexible transport contract. As a result of these qualities, it will be possible to say that many shipping contracts relating to existing tariff shipping will enter the scope of the Convention. However, in the application, the carrier considers the load appropriate with the type of transport or method of freedom of transport, the mode can also be referred to as non-defined transport contract. The first subparagraph of Article 1 of the Convention is not sufficiently clear whether such contracts fall within the scope of the Rotterdam Rules. In light of the discussions in the preparatory phase of the Convention, this article defends the view that such contracts should be assessed within the scope of Article 1.1 of the Rotterdam Rules, as long as the Convention only provides for sea transport in an open or comprehensive manner. Although it will be much more in place that the Rotterdam Rules have clearly arranged this issue, the opinion mentioned above by our blood is an explanation that falls in accordance with the word and spirit of Article 1.1

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