ABSTRACT
Introduction Use of containers for consolidation of cargo was one of the most important developments in the transport industry in the latter part of the last century. 1 They reduced losses caused by congestion, delay and pilferage at ports. Improvements in transport management through information technology, innovative ship and other vehicle building methods (e.g., cellular ships, articulated lorries) also contributed to the emergence of multimodal 2 (also called combined or intermodal) transport 3 – door-to-door carriage using two or more modes of transport, such as road/sea/road and road/rail/sea/road. 4 The growth of multimodal transport brought with it the evolution of single transport documents, such as through bill of lading and multimodal (combined) transport document, to cover the entire carriage of cargo from door-to-door. It also fuelled an expansion of freight forwarders who not only provided packing services, warehousing, customs clearance, and so on, but also undertook transport arrangements across international frontiers involving several carriers. Not all freight forwarders, however, operated vessels; 5 some acted as either principal or agent of the consignor in arranging carriage, whereas others also carried goods part of the way on their vessels.
