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Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier?
The freight forwarder has always played an important role in commerce and interna tional carriage of goods. Traditionally the freight forwarder was the link between the owner of the goods and the carrier, and provided forwarding or clearing services. The forwarder acted as the agent for the cargo ow...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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Centre for Law and Society
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613320215789568 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Rigtering, Mandy Verena |
| author2 | Bradfield, Graham |
| author_browse | Bradfield, Graham Rigtering, Mandy Verena |
| author_facet | Bradfield, Graham Rigtering, Mandy Verena |
| author_sort | Rigtering, Mandy Verena |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The freight forwarder has always played an important role in commerce and interna tional carriage of goods. Traditionally the freight forwarder was the link between the owner of the goods and the carrier, and provided forwarding or clearing services. The forwarder acted as the agent for the cargo owner, and in some cases at the same time for the carrier. 1 Forwarding agents would have co-operating partners in other countries, to whom they direct instructions for the receipt of the cargo at destination and for cus toms clearance. With the advent of containerisation the forwarder undertook activities such as packing and cargo consolidation on his own account - as principal. In modern days the freight forwarder has adopted a new role in which he is not only assisting the parties in the transportation of goods, but in 'undertaking' the carriage by his own means of transport or by making arrangements with other transport providers. 2 In the role of a principal, the freight forwarder is known by many names, eg Non-Vessel Own ing/ Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC), Multimodal Transport Operator {MTO), lo gistics service provider, etc. 3 In a ·broad sense the activities of a freight forwarder fall under the classical Roman con tract type of mandatum, but nowadays a distinction has to be made between the three different roles a forwarder can fulfil.4 A freight forwarder can act as a mere agent on behalf of his customer or the performing carrier, as the contracting carrier assuming carrier liability without performing the carriage himself or as the performing carrier. 5 The liability of the freight forwarder depends on its role and the governing legal regime. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43013 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:34:14.045Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Centre for Law and Society |
| publisherStr | Centre for Law and Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43013 Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? Rigtering, Mandy Verena Bradfield, Graham freight forwarder The freight forwarder has always played an important role in commerce and interna tional carriage of goods. Traditionally the freight forwarder was the link between the owner of the goods and the carrier, and provided forwarding or clearing services. The forwarder acted as the agent for the cargo owner, and in some cases at the same time for the carrier. 1 Forwarding agents would have co-operating partners in other countries, to whom they direct instructions for the receipt of the cargo at destination and for cus toms clearance. With the advent of containerisation the forwarder undertook activities such as packing and cargo consolidation on his own account - as principal. In modern days the freight forwarder has adopted a new role in which he is not only assisting the parties in the transportation of goods, but in 'undertaking' the carriage by his own means of transport or by making arrangements with other transport providers. 2 In the role of a principal, the freight forwarder is known by many names, eg Non-Vessel Own ing/ Operating Common Carrier (NVOCC), Multimodal Transport Operator {MTO), lo gistics service provider, etc. 3 In a ·broad sense the activities of a freight forwarder fall under the classical Roman con tract type of mandatum, but nowadays a distinction has to be made between the three different roles a forwarder can fulfil.4 A freight forwarder can act as a mere agent on behalf of his customer or the performing carrier, as the contracting carrier assuming carrier liability without performing the carriage himself or as the performing carrier. 5 The liability of the freight forwarder depends on its role and the governing legal regime. 2026-03-19T10:33:11Z 2026-03-19T10:33:11Z 2010 2026-03-19T09:35:57Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters LLM http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43013 en eng application/pdf Centre for Law and Society Faculty of Law University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | freight forwarder Rigtering, Mandy Verena Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? |
| title_full | Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? |
| title_fullStr | Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? |
| title_short | Stuck in the middle: freight forwarder - forwarding agent or contracting carrier? |
| title_sort | stuck in the middle freight forwarder forwarding agent or contracting carrier |
| topic | freight forwarder |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43013 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rigteringmandyverena stuckinthemiddlefreightforwarderforwardingagentorcontractingcarrier |