Multimodal transport is the new mode of trnasport that is introduced since 1960's. This can be defined that international multimodal transport means the carriage of goods by at least two differnet modes of transport on the basis of a multimodal transp...
Multimodal transport is the new mode of trnasport that is introduced since 1960's. This can be defined that international multimodal transport means the carriage of goods by at least two differnet modes of transport on the basis of a multimodal transport contract from a place in one country at which the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal transport contract from a place in one country at which the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal transport operator to a place designated for deliery situated in a different country.
But this is a different method from the traditional marine transport. So this method have caused many complicated problems in relation to the liability of the mutimodal transport operator. Namely, in many cases, the damage of container cargo could not be discovered well during the time of transport and discovered at the destination, Therefore, we do not know the precise place where the damage took place. In this case, we could not know thw carrier who have to be burdened with the responsibility of reparation and don't know the principle of liability that have to be applied.
In connection with this point, many countries have endeavoured for amny years, and as a result of this effort, U.N Convention on International Multimodal Transport of Goods was materialized in 1980 by UNCITRAL. According to this convention, the subject of liability was based on the uniform liability system. But in the limited cases, this convention adopted the network liability system and hence we can say that it accepted the modified uniform liability system substantially. However, in contrast with this condition mentioned, we do not have any legal arrangement to regulate the multimodal transport yet in our business law. Moreover, in this circumstances, we have to depend on the analogical construction from the marine and/or land transport provisions in the business law, but the provisions regarding those transport are out of date. Accordingly we could not cope with the generalized situation of multimodal transport very well.
Therefore, we have to introduce some new procisions to regulate multimodal trnasport in our business law. And when we considered the legislation of the new provisions, it is desiable to harmonize with the international rules including the U.N. convention. In order to do so, we have to excute the research dleliberately about these international rules and finally in relation to our maritime policy, we have to consider the position of shipowner as well as those of consignor.