Multimodal Transport Bill

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —

“ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport” means the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport, signed at Vientiane, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, on 17 November 2005;

“ASEAN member country” means a country declared by the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, as having ratified or acceded to the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport;

“carrier”, in relation to any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract, means a person who performs or undertakes to perform the carriage, or part of the carriage, of the goods by any mode of transport, whether or not the person is the multimodal transport operator of the contract;

“consignee”, in relation to any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract, means the person entitled under the multimodal transport contract to receive the goods from the multimodal transport operator of the contract;

“consignor”, in relation to any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract, means the person who concluded the contract with another person under which the other person is to be the multimodal transport operator;

“deliver”, in relation to any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract, means —

“goods” means any property (including any container, pallet or similar article of transport or packaging not supplied by a multimodal transport operator), whether such property is or is to be carried on or under the deck of a conveyance;

“international multimodal transport” means the carriage of goods on the basis of a multimodal transport contract by at least 2 different modes of transport —

“mandatory law” means any law of Singapore, or any international convention forming part of the law of Singapore, relating to the carriage of goods, the provisions of which cannot be departed from by contractual stipulations detrimental to the consignor or consignee;

“mode of transport” means transport by road, rail, inland waterways, sea or air;

“multimodal transport contract” means a contract whereby a multimodal transport operator undertakes, against payment of freight, to perform or to procure the performance of international multimodal transport of goods;

“multimodal transport document” means a document which evidences —

“multimodal transport operator” means any person who —

“registration certificate” means a document issued by the Singapore competent national body certifying that a multimodal transport operator is included in the register of the Singapore competent national body;

“Singapore competent national body” means the person or authority authorised by the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, as the competent national body of Singapore, for the purposes of the ASEAN Framework Agreement on Multimodal Transport;

“special drawing right” or “SDR” means the unit of account by that name as defined by the International Monetary Fund on its official website at https://www.imf.org/;

“taking in charge”, in relation to any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract, means the goods have been handed over and accepted for carriage by the multimodal transport operator of the contract;

“writing” —

To avoid doubt, the carriage of goods (or any pick‑up, delivery or other operations) by only one mode of transport under a contract is not to be taken as an international multimodal transport of those goods.

In this Act, where a container, pallet or similar article of transport is loaded with more than one package or shipping unit, each of the packages or shipping units enumerated in a multimodal transport document as packed in such article of transport is considered a separate package or shipping unit; otherwise such article of transport is considered the package or shipping unit.

Parts 3 to 6 apply in relation to any civil claim relating to the carriage of goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract but only if either or both of the following are satisfied:

Subsection (1) applies to any civil claim whether founded in contract or tort, and whether made against the multimodal transport operator, any servant or agent of the multimodal transport operator, or other person whose services the multimodal transport operator has used to perform the contract.

A person who desires to be under the register of the Singapore competent national body must apply to the Singapore competent national body for a registration certificate under this section.

An application under subsection (1) must —

Upon receiving an application under subsection (1), the Singapore competent national body may —

The Singapore competent national body must not issue a registration certificate to an applicant unless the applicant —

A registration certificate issued under subsection (3)(a) is valid for one year, unless it is earlier cancelled under section 6.

The Singapore competent national body may at any time add to, vary or revoke any of the conditions of a registration certificate.

Where the Singapore competent national body refuses to issue a registration certificate to an applicant, the Singapore competent national body must state in writing its reasons for refusal if requested to do so by the applicant.

Any applicant who is aggrieved by the refusal of the Singapore competent national body to issue a registration certificate may, within 14 days of having been informed of the refusal, appeal to the Minister whose decision is final.

An application for the renewal of a registration certificate must —

If an application to renew a registration certificate is submitted to the Singapore competent national body less than 3 months before the registration certificate expires, the application is treated as an application under section 4.

Upon receiving an application under subsection (1), the Singapore competent national body may —

The Singapore competent national body may, at any time, add to, vary or revoke any of the conditions of a registration certificate renewed under this section or impose new conditions.

Where the Singapore competent national body refuses to renew the registration certificate of an applicant, it must state in writing its reasons for refusal if requested to do so by the applicant.

Any applicant who is aggrieved by the refusal of the Singapore competent national body to renew a registration certificate may, within 14 days of having been informed of the refusal, appeal to the Minister whose decision is final.

If the Singapore competent national body is satisfied that the holder of a registration certificate —

Before cancelling the registration certificate, the Singapore competent national body must give notice to the holder of the registration certificate —

The time specified by the Singapore competent national body in the notice in subsection (2)(b) must not be less than 28 days after the date of the notice.

The Singapore competent national body may, after considering any written representation made by the holder of the registration certificate, cancel the registration certificate and notify the holder of the cancellation.

The Singapore competent national body must furnish the holder of the registration certificate with the grounds of cancellation of the registration certificate if so required by the holder.

Any holder of a registration certificate who is aggrieved by the cancellation of the registration certificate may appeal in writing against the cancellation to the Minister —

A decision of the Singapore competent national body to cancel a registration certificate takes effect despite an appeal against that decision being made to the Minister under subsection (6), unless the Minister otherwise specifies.

The Minister may designate any of the following persons to hear and determine, in the Minister’s place, any appeal under section 4, 5 or 6:

A reference to the Minister in section 4, 5 or 6 includes a reference to a person designated under subsection (1).

When goods are taken in charge in Singapore by a multimodal transport operator pursuant to a multimodal transport contract, the multimodal transport operator must issue to the consignor of the goods a multimodal transport document.

The multimodal transport document must, at the option of the consignor of the goods, either be in negotiable or non-negotiable form.

The multimodal transport document must be signed by the multimodal transport operator or by a person authorised by the multimodal transport operator.

A multimodal transport document issued to bearer is negotiable by delivery.

A multimodal transport document issued to order is negotiable by the endorsement of the holder completed by delivery.

A consignee of goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract as evidenced by a multimodal transport document has and is vested with all rights of action and is subject to all liabilities in respect of those goods as if the consignee were a party to the contract.

The rights and liabilities are vested in the consignee under subsection (6) subject to —

A multimodal transport document must contain such particulars as may be prescribed.

A document is a multimodal transport document despite the absence of any of the prescribed particulars if there is evidence to establish that it is a multimodal transport document within the definition of that term in section 2(1).

A multimodal transport document issued by a multimodal transport operator is prima facie evidence that the multimodal transport operator has taken in charge the goods as described in that document, unless a contrary indication, such as “shipper’s weight, load and count”, “shipper‑packed container” or a similar expression, has been made in the printed text of or superimposed on the document.

Proof to the contrary is not admissible when the multimodal transport document has been transferred, or transmitted by electronic data interchange to the consignor of the goods who —

In this section, “electronic data interchange” means an electronic transmission of data from one computer to another computer, using an internationally recognised standard for secure electronic transfer of data that is agreed on by the multimodal transport operator, the consignor of the goods, and any other party involved in the international multimodal transport of the goods.

A multimodal transport operator of a multimodal transport contract is liable for any act or omission described in subsection (2), of —

The act or omission is one that —

Subject to subsections (2), (3) and (4), a multimodal transport operator of a multimodal transport contract is liable for loss resulting from the loss of, damage to, or delay in the delivery of, any goods that are the subject of the contract if the occurrence which caused the loss, damage or delay took place during the period of responsibility of the multimodal transport operator.

The multimodal transport operator is not liable under subsection (1) if the multimodal transport operator proves that —

The multimodal transport operator is not liable under subsection (1) for loss resulting from delay in the delivery of the goods unless the consignor has made a declaration of interest in timely delivery which has been accepted by the multimodal transport operator.

If any loss of or damage to the goods is the result of the unseaworthiness of the ship in which the goods are carried, the multimodal transport operator is not liable under subsection (1) if the multimodal transport operator proves that due diligence has been exercised to make the ship seaworthy at the commencement of the voyage.

For the purpose of this Part, delay in delivery occurs when the goods have not been delivered within the time expressly agreed upon by the parties to the multimodal transport contract or, in the absence of such agreement, within the time which it would be reasonable for a diligent multimodal transport operator to deliver the goods, having regard to the circumstances of the case.

If the goods have not been delivered within 90 consecutive days after the date determined in accordance with subsection (5), any person entitled to claim the goods may, in the absence of evidence to the contrary, treat the goods as lost.

An assessment of compensation by a multimodal transport operator of a multimodal transport contract for the loss of or damage to the goods that are the subject of the contract, and for which the multimodal transport operator is liable under section 15, is to be made by reference to the value of such goods —

The value of the goods is to be determined according to —

Subject to subsection (2) and sections 18, 19, 21 and 22, a multimodal transport operator of a multimodal transport contract is not liable under section 15 for any loss of or damage to the goods that are the subject of the contract, in an amount exceeding the higher of the following:

Subsection (1) does not apply if the nature and value of the goods have been declared by the consignor of the goods before the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal transport operator, and inserted in the multimodal transport document.

The multimodal transport operator is not entitled to the benefit of the limitation of liability under this Part for the loss of, damage to, or delay in the delivery of the goods if it is proved that the loss, damage or delay resulted from an act or omission of the multimodal transport operator that is done —

A servant or an agent of a multimodal transport operator or other person whose services a multimodal transport operator makes use of for the carriage of goods is not entitled to the benefit of the limitation of liability under this Part if it is proved that the loss, damage or delay resulted from an act or omission of such servant, agent or other person that is done —

The consignor of any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract is deemed to have guaranteed to the multimodal transport operator of the contract that, at the time the goods were taken in charge by the multimodal transport operator, all of the following particulars specified in the multimodal transport document are accurate:

The consignor of any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract must mark or label dangerous goods in accordance with any international conventions or laws applicable in the country in which the goods are taken in charge by the multimodal transport operator of the contract.

Where the consignor of any dangerous goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract hands over those goods to the multimodal transport operator of the contract, or any servant or agent of the multimodal transport operator, or other person acting on behalf of the multimodal transport operator, the consignor must inform the multimodal transport operator, servant, agent or person (as the case may be) of the dangerous character of the goods and, if necessary, the precautions to be taken.

If the consignor fails to so inform the multimodal transport operator, servant, agent or person, and the multimodal transport operator does not otherwise have knowledge of the dangerous character of the goods —

Subsection (4) does not apply if, during the international multimodal transport of the goods, the multimodal transport operator has taken in charge the goods with knowledge of the dangerous character of the goods.

If, in a case where subsection (4)(b) does not apply, the dangerous goods become an actual danger to life or property, they may (despite section 15) be unloaded, destroyed or rendered innocuous at any time during the international multimodal transport, as the circumstances may require, without payment of compensation to the consignor or any person to whom the multimodal transport operator is taken to have given an undertaking under section 14, except where —

The consignor of any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract must indemnify the multimodal transport operator of the contract against any loss incurred by the multimodal transport operator resulting from any inadequacy or inaccuracy of any particulars or information provided by the consignor under subsection (1), (2) or (3), as the case may be.

The consignor of any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract remains liable to indemnify the multimodal transport operator of the contract under subsection (7) even if the multimodal transport document relating to the contract has been transferred by the consignor.

The right of the multimodal transport operator of a multimodal transport contract to indemnity under subsection (7) does not limit the multimodal transport operator’s liability under the multimodal transport contract to any person other than the consignor of the goods.

Unless written notice of loss of or damage to any goods that are the subject of a multimodal transport contract, specifying the general nature of such loss or damage, is given by the consignee of the goods to the multimodal transport operator of the contract when the goods were handed over to the consignee, such handing-over is prima facie evidence of the delivery by the multimodal transport operator of the goods as described in the multimodal transport document relating to the contract.

Where the loss of or damage to the goods is not apparent, subsection (1) applies if the notice in that subsection is not given within 6 consecutive days after the day when the goods were handed over to the consignee of the goods.

Any dispute relating to the international multimodal transport of any goods is capable of settlement by arbitration in Singapore between parties to the multimodal transport contract relating to the goods but only if —

The arbitrator, or arbitration tribunal, in Singapore is to apply the provisions of this Act for any arbitration instituted in Singapore pursuant to subsection (1).

Any stipulation in a multimodal transport document relating to any goods is void and of no effect to the extent —

To avoid doubt, subsection (1) does not affect any other stipulations contained in the multimodal transport document.

Subsection (1) does not prevent the parties to a multimodal transport contract from agreeing that the multimodal transport operator of the contract should bear a greater liability than that imposed on the multimodal transport operator under this Act.

This Act does not affect any rights or obligations of a multimodal transport operator, carrier, consignor or consignee provided under —

This Act also does not affect any written law that implements any treaty, convention or other international agreement or arrangement that is applicable to a multimodal transport contract or any part of a multimodal transport contract.