International Carriage of Goods Contracts Defeated by Coronavirus: An Attempt to Identify Carrier’s Liability through Multinational Carriage of Goods Conventions

Year 2025, Volume: 83 Issue: 3, 913 - 933, 24.10.2025

Özlem Burdurlu Ahlat

https://doi.org/10.26650/mecmua.2025.83.3.003

https://izlik.org/JA87UH38DL

Abstract

Coronavirus (Covid-19), emerged not only as a health, social and commercial crisis, but also as a transport crisis. The initial reminiscence of the coronavirus chaos on the transport industry may have been the memory of people stranded on the Diamond Princess cruise ship when the vessel was quarantined for days. The Diamond Princess incident happened to be a bitter memory of coronavirus’s influence on passenger transport known by the whole world. On the other hand, the crisis freight transport industry experienced went rather behind closed doors. The decline in production was the main factor that led to the crisis in the international transportation market. The global measures taken to stop the spread of the virus resulted in decrease of production rates. In addition, certain animal species and food products were banned from export and import. The decrease in production and the export and import restrictions on products led to a decrease in the global movement of goods. Direct measures implemented over international freight transport also added to the already existing complexities. The closure of ports and state borders, the cessation of railway and airline activities negatively affected the conventional operation of transport vehicles. Labor restrictions and crew quarantine measures created delays in transportation processes. All in all, the measures related to Covid-19 had a direct, negative outcome for international carriage of goods contracts between shippers and carriers, which mostly resulted in delay or impossibility of delivery of goods. This article analyzes the precautionary measures taken by states in the course of the pandemic from the view of contracts of carriage of goods. Carrier’s liability will be set forth by virtue of the uniform law rules set up by multinational carriage of goods conventions.

Keywords

COVID-19 , Coronavirus , Transport , Carriage of goods , Conventions

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