Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Key definition

Carriage of goods definition

What does Carriage of goods mean? Carriage of goods describes the contractual transport of cargo by sea, air, road or rail, including multimodal or combined transport between places of receipt and delivery. In UK and Irish practice it is a descriptive term, not a single statutory definition. The applicable regime depends on the mode and whether the movement is international or domestic. Sea carriage is commonly subject to the Hague‑Visby Rules (as implemented), and in the UK the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 governs rights of suit under bills of lading and sea waybills. International air carriage is governed by the Montreal Convention 1999 (as...

UK Road Carriage of Goods and the CMR Convention: Liability, Standard Terms, Damages, Limitation, Time Bars and Jurisdiction

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Practice notes

This Practice Note

This Practice Note reviews the frameworks governing road haulage of Goods within the UK, as well as international movements subject to the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of goods by Road (the CMR Convention). It sets out Carrier liability and the assessment of Damages at common law, and how these interact with commonly adopted hauliers’ standard conditions. It also outlines the CMR regime, touches on multimodal carriage, and addresses limitation of liability, jurisdiction and time limits under the CMR. Further sections introduce the consignment note, liability for loss or delay in transit, and the carrier’s available defences.

This Practice Note will consider the regimes covering:

carriage of goods by road within the jurisdiction
international carriage of goods under the CMR Convention

For domestic carriage, it surveys methods of incorporating standard terms and how carriers exclude or limit liability. However, emphasis falls on international carriage under the CMR Convention, given its comparative complexity...

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Quentin Tannock

4 Pump Court

Quentin Tannock has a commercial practice with a strong focus on advocacy. Quentin acts and advises on a broad spectrum of disputes across a range of industry sectors, for example, including insurance, financial services and professional negligence. While his practice has a focus on high value disputes, Quentin's clients range in size from the Fortune 100 through to SMEs. Quentin's background is in law and business, including commercial arbitration, venture capital investments and the provision of IP related strategy and policy advice to multinational corporations and international organisations. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge and gave a series of lectures on IP and business to science master’s students at the University of Cambridge....

James Watthey

4 Pump Court

James is an experienced commercial barrister handling heavyweight international arbitration and litigation. James focuses on charterparty disputes, cargo claims, sale and purchase, shipbuilding disputes, international trade and marine insurance. In addition to LMAA, LCIA, SIAC, ICC and other institutional and ad hoc arbitrations all around the world, he also frequently handles disputes in the Commercial Court and the Admiralty Court, as well as other divisions of the High Court. He has particular experience of international actions involving jurisdictional disputes. James also has experience in mediation and as an Arbitrator and expert in English law in foreign proceedings. His arbitration practice includes both substantive proceedings and challenges under the Arbitration Act 1996, on grounds such as want of jurisdiction, apparent bias, serious irregularity and errors of law. More recently, he has handled a lot more commodities and energy related shipping disputes. He also works on...

Elliott Cook

4 Pump Court

Elliott’s practice includes complex commercial disputes, financial services, civil fraud, insurance and re-insurance, professional negligence, construction, and shipping.Before coming to the Bar, Elliott was a judicial assistant at the Supreme Court of Western Australia. He later worked at a leading international commercial law firm in Perth, Australia as a solicitor in the litigation team with a particular focus on mining and energy, insolvency, and corporate law. In the year prior to joining Chambers, Elliott was employed as a qualified foreign solicitor at a large US law firm in London working on a range of disputes across a wide variety of industry sectors.In addition to being called to the Bar in England & Wales, Elliott is admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Australia....

Aphiwan Natasha King

4 Pump Court

Natasha King is a barrister at 4 Pump Court. She is developing a broad practice across all of Chambers’ areas of expertise, including commercial litigation and international arbitration.Natasha has a first class degree in commerce from the University of Melbourne, a first class degree in law from the University of Cambridge, and a specialist LL.M. in international business and economic law from Georgetown University. She has won multiple academic awards and prizes, including the top scholarship awarded by Lincoln’s Inn for the bar course.Before coming to the Bar, Natasha served as a dispute settlement lawyer in the Legal Affairs Division of the World Trade Organization for three years, advising panelists on State-to-State disputes. She has written several publications on issues of international trade law, international investment law, and international commercial arbitration. She also writes for and assists on the editorial team of Opinio Juris, a...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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