Combined Transport

Combined transport, also called multimodal transport, is carriage of goods by at least two different modes under a single contract and one transport document, where the operator takes responsibility for the whole journey. A combined transport operator issues a combined transport bill or the FIATA FBL covering, for example, road haulage to the load port, sea carriage, and rail delivery inland. No multimodal convention is in force: the UN Multimodal Convention 1980 never entered force, and the Rotterdam Rules 2008 cover door-to-door carriage including a sea leg but are not yet in force. Liability therefore turns on the document terms, often a network clause applying each leg’s governing regime.