ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the current factual context and how the role of third parties has changed as a result of its development. Specifically how carriage has changed within the context of the supply chain as a result of integration, and how the role of third parties has changed accordingly.
Traditionally, these third parties have not been formally recognised as part of the supply chain. Some of them, are formal, as in the cases of vertical and horizontal integrations. Vertical integration is a form of dyadic formal enterprise; horizontal integration is pivotal to the understanding that third parties are now likely to be big corporations rather than weak parties with little or no bargaining power.
An essential part of these changes should be the uniformity and harmonisation of the legal tutelage of the parties involved in the carriage. In order to achieve this, however, barriers of different national laws, different requirements, and different local approaches have to be overcome.
