Thesis:

Legal review of MTO transportation in international trade law

MTO transportation or multimodal or combined transportation is a combination of air, sea and land transportation. In this type of transportation, cargo or freight is transported by a single person from one country to another or from one place to another without stopping in the transportation and movement of goods using various and different vehicles. Simple and one-dimensional types of transportation include sea and air transportation and land transportation. Therefore, if transportation is carried out with a combination of the above, it is called combined, multi-quality or multi-type transportation. In other words, MTO transportation is; the movement of a commodity without interruption from one point in one country to a point in another country, under the responsibility of a single person and by at least two types of means of transportation that have different legal systems, for example; ship and truck, and under a single bill of lading, which is called a multi-type bill of lading and combined transportation. In this method of transportation, the carrier receives the goods from the sender and delivers them to the consignee. Therefore, it can be said that MTO transportation has an international aspect in addition to its domestic aspect. A person who undertakes to the owner of the goods to transport the goods correctly and safely in exchange for a fee from one point to another using various means of transportation is called an international MTO transportation agent. Therefore, the responsibility for moving the goods from the point of origin to the destination lies with the agent, so the agent may carry out the movement personally or through agents, representatives and other transportation operators with whom they have concluded a separate contract for the movement of the goods in question. A transportation agent has two distinct aspects from each other; 1. Being unique in relation to transportation operators, in which case the operator, in the guise of the main owner or on behalf of the main owner, attempts to prepare and conclude a contract with the single transportation operator. 2. In return, the consignor undertakes to transport the goods from the origin to the destination. Now, the important point that we should pay attention to here is, if an accident occurs during a single type of transportation, for example, by land, who is responsible for it? According to the studies conducted, I found that there are two theories regarding this issue: 1. The chain liability system, in these cases, the aforementioned transport agent bears the same responsibility as the land transport operator 2. The uniform liability system, in this case, regardless of the place of damage, the aforementioned agent is responsible for compensation within certain and specific limits. In Article 16 of the 1980 Geneva Convention on International Combined Transport, the uniform liability system of the aforementioned agent has been accepted, and some objections have been made to it by lawyers, and they consider the assumed fault to be the basis for the liability of MTO transportation. MTO transportation, regardless of the responsibilities and duties it is responsible for, has a number of rights. The owner of the goods has a series of rights and obligations towards the transport agent, which if not observed, the agent will have the right to receive the fare and the right to lien, deliver the goods, the right to discharge and the right to compensation. The most important problems and ambiguities of MTO transportation include the lack of transparency and the separation of responsibilities and duties, as well as the absence of a single legal system to respond to possible damages in this contract. Therefore, in this research, we are trying to examine MTO transportation in international trade law. Therefore, the important question raised in this research is; What is the legal perspective of MTO transportation in international trade law?

Keywords: international trade law transportation , MTO,