The article is an attempt to present circumstances that nowadays determine negotiating, conclusion and performance of a multimodal transport contract in Poland. Author focuses in particular on parties’ approach, their business and legal conscience in this respect, as well as their decisions’ practical consequences. Doctrinal aspects of a multimodal transport contract are taken into account only as long as it is essential in examining the most common practices of the parties to the contract. Due to particular character of this publication, the method of author’s views presentation is as brief as possible.

The bill of lading is one of the most important transport documents in maritime trade. Due to certain contract-like features it exhibits, it is sometimes incorrectly identified as a contract for the carriage of cargo by sea. The purpose of this article is to present the features of the bill of lading that exclude the possibility of equating this document with a contract for the carriage of goods by sea. A bill of lading is not a contract, but a unilateral declaration of the carrier’s will, in which the carrier confirms acceptance of the cargo on the ship and undertakes to deliver it to the legitimate recipient at the port of destination. A bill of lading is a transport document for cargo and a commodity security. For this reason, it cannot be said that a bill of lading is merely an evidence of the conclusion of a contract for the carriage of goods by sea.