Course syllabus for Multimodal transport law and logistics contracts

Course syllabus adopted 2023-02-06 by Head of Programme (or corresponding).

Overview

  • Swedish nameMultimodal transporträtt och logistikavtal
  • CodeMMS103
  • Credits7.5 Credits
  • OwnerTSILO
  • Education cycleFirst-cycle
  • Main field of studyShipping and Marine Technology
  • DepartmentMECHANICS AND MARITIME SCIENCES
  • GradingTH - Pass with distinction (5), Pass with credit (4), Pass (3), Fail

Course round 1

  • Teaching language Swedish
  • Application code 81127
  • Open for exchange studentsNo
  • Only students with the course round in the programme overview.

Credit distribution

0123 Written and oral assignments, part A 2.5 c
Grading: UG		0 c0 c2.5 c0 c0 c0 c
0223 Examination, part B 5 c
Grading: TH		0 c0 c5 c0 c0 c0 c

In programmes

Examiner

Eligibility

General entry requirements for bachelor's level (first cycle)
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Specific entry requirements

The same as for the programme that owns the course.
Applicants enrolled in a programme at Chalmers where the course is included in the study programme are exempted from fulfilling the requirements above.

Course specific prerequisites

MMS095 Commercial law
The language of instruction is Swedish. Course literature, legal texts, and contracts are largely in English. There may be legal cases in Danish and Norwegian. In order to complete the course, good reading comprehension and good ability to write in English are required.

Aim

  • give the participant an understanding of the legal relationship between the purchase agreement and the transport contract as well as the functions of the transport document,
  • convey knowledge of the rules of execution, responsibility and limitation that apply to the various modes of transport (sea, road, rail and air),
  • explain content and convey knowledge about functions, distribution of responsibilities and limitation rules in freight forwarding agreements (mainly NSAB 2015),
  • introduce rules for ports and terminals' responsibility for goods and handling,
  • convey knowledge about the content, function and structure of logistics agreements, the interface between the actors in the agreement and how an agreement can be formulated in practice,
  • give an introduction to the Rotterdam rules,
  • give the participants insight into the problems that the lack of international regulation of multimodal transport has, partly from a legal and partly from an environmental and sustainability perspective.

Learning outcomes (after completion of the course the student should be able to)

  • Describe how the terms of delivery of the purchase agreement affect the transport contract.
  • Understand the function of the transport agreement as a tripartite agreement.
  • Explain the main features of the charter agreement (B/B, T/C, V/C).
  • Within the domains of sea, road, rail and air transport, explain the following:
    • transport documents (alternatives and function)
    • the carrier's responsibility (according to international conventions and Swedish law)
    • the carrier's right to limit liability
    • complaints and limitation rules.
  • Describe the content of freight forwarding contracts (mainly NSAB) regarding the following:
    • applicability,
    • network Responsibility,
    • the scope and parts of the assignment,
    • liability rules, exceptions and limitation of liability.
  • Describe the liability rules in the Swedish terminal regulations.
  • Describe the design, parties and functions of a logistics agreement.
  • Problems around interfaces and risk transition in transport and logistics agreements.
  • Design and establish a complete logistics agreement that includes transport, storage, handling, loading, unloading etc. with the underlying (standard) agreement.
  • Understand the main features of the Rotterdam rules and how they differ from the current transport liability conventions.
  • Problems regarding the lack of international and national regulation of multimodal transport in terms of responsibility, environmental and sustainability aspects

Content

Course introduction
Unimodal, intermodal and multimodal transport and regulations

International conventions on carriers liability
  • The Hague / Visby and the Hamburg Rules, swedish maritime code (1994:1009) chapter 13
  • CMR Convention, Law (1974:610) on domestic road transport
  • COTIF 1999, Railway Traffic Act (2018:181)
  • Montreal Convention, Law (2010:510) on Air Transport.
  • The Rotterdam rules (also SOU 2018:60 Access to the Rotterdam rules)

Contracts
  • BIMCO standard agreements: various bills of lading (B/L), GENCON, BOXTIME and other charterparties
  • NSAB 2015
  • The Swedish ports terminal regulations 1989
  • Swedish terminal regulations 2011

Organisation

  • Lectures. The purpose of the lectures is to explain concepts, exemplify situations and go through and discuss legal cases, contract texts and clauses.
  • Guest Lectures.
  • Literature studies. Students are invited to read the literature specified in the course description before each lecture.
  • Assignments submitted as written PM:s. Performed in groups of 2 or 3 students depending on total number of participants in the course

Literature

Course litterature will be presented on the course home page.

Examination including compulsory elements

  • the course is examined by the assignments (part A) and a digital writrten examination (part B).
The course grade is based on final exam (Part B)

The course examiner may assess individual students in other ways than what is stated above if there are special reasons for doing so, for example if a student has a decision from Chalmers on educational support due to disability.