ABSTRACT
Reconciling international trade with the Rotterdam Rules (RR) the transport regime significantly affects the risks and the contract practices of the exporters and importers of goods and the banks financing such transactions. The foremost documents are transport documents: the RR define them as documents issued by the carrier under a contract of carriage that evidence the receipt of goods under a contract of carriage, and evidence or contain a contract of carriage. Goods, transport documents, the contract for their transport and the parties involved in the sea transit constitute the context and the area that the RR regulate. The RR are mindful of the difficulties that the Free on Board (FOB) seller has in obtaining the transport document under FOB contracts, where the buyer organises the contract of carriage. The transport document issued under a volume contract will perhaps convey the derogations, at least by numeric reference to the sections displaced by agreement.
