Legal Relationships: Terminal Owners, Operators, and Users

This Article will search for methods to minimize the differences in the liability standards between the terminal in its various roles and other participants in the transportation industry. If the entire multimodal system is to operate under one set of laws, the terminal's liability standard should not change with the particular role it is performing at any given moment; rather, it should be as close as possible to the standards of other participants in the contract of carriage. All parties to the multimodal system should be entitled to contract to carry cargo under one contract governed by one set of laws. The uniformity and predictability that would flow from such a system would encourage quicker settlements and more efficient insurance placement.