Legal aspects of multimodal transportation: A Turkish approach in multimodal transport problems

Multimodal transport refers to the transport of goods from one point to another via more than one mode of transport. The chain that interconnects different links or modes of transport- air, sea and land into one complete process that ensures an efficient, cost- effective, environmentally door-to-door movement of goods under the responsibility of a single transport operator, known as a multimodal transport operator. Due the fact that there is no uniform multimodal transport law, transport law has no sufficient means to create certainty as to the legal consequences of any loss, damage or delay of cargo resulting from multimodal carriage contracts. Liability rules vary greatly from case to case and give rise to uncertainty concerning the extent of a multimodal carrier's liability in a given situation. The main objective of this study is examine Turkish court decisions and prescriptive problems related with multimodal transport. How multimodal transport problems was solved in Turkey and new Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) multimodal transport regulations were examined in terms of Turkish court decisions. Thus it will be determined whether the needs of multimodal transport will be met through new legislative studies. Keywords: Multimodal Transport, Intermodal Transport Law, International Conventions, Court Decisions, Turkey