---
id: KB-LG-017
url: https://app.codecontract.io/help/logistics/when-goods-change-transport-mode
idioma: en
categoria: sector-logistica
subcategoria: multimodal
audiencia: usuario
nivel: intermedio
actualizado: 2026-08-13
tambienEn: [es]
relacionados: [KB-LG-011, KB-LG-007]
citadoPor: [KB-LG-018, KB-AL-021, KB-LG-027]
---

# When goods change transport mode

_Lorry, ship, train, lorry again. Nothing breaks during the journey: it breaks where it changes hands._

**Responde a:** combined transport documentation · damage on a multi-leg shipment · who is liable at transhipment · goods moving by lorry and ship

A shipment combining modes looks like a single journey from outside: it leaves your warehouse and reaches its destination. Inside it is three or four separate contracts, each with its own rules, and the goods cross from one to the next in a few minutes that almost nobody documents.

## Where the chain breaks

| Point | What happens there | What is nearly always missing |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Initial loading | It is counted and sealed | Photos of the condition and the seal |
| Each transhipment | The responsible party changes | Evidence of condition at that moment |
| Intermediate storage | The goods wait for days | Who held them and under what conditions |
| Final delivery | It is opened and damage appears | The comparison with how it left |

> [!IMPORTANT]
> The second row is where claims are lost: **if nobody records the condition at each change of hands, damage can only be attributed to the journey as a whole**. And damage belonging to everyone belongs to nobody: each carrier will say, fairly, that it reached them like that. What makes a leg claimable is a photo and a signature at that leg's handover — thirty seconds that can only be spent then.

## What to settle before it leaves

1. **Who organises the whole and who answers for each leg** — Not always the same, and that difference matters when there is damage.
2. **Which document accompanies each leg** — Each mode has its own and they do not substitute for one another.
3. **How the consignment is identified across all of them** — If the number changes each leg, it cannot be followed.
4. **And where the condition record lives** — Even one photo per leg, in the same file.

> [!WARNING]
> The costliest confusion is about who answers: **whoever sells you the whole transport is not always who answers for each leg**, and compensation limits change with the mode where the damage happened. When you cannot prove which leg it occurred on, the argument is not about who pays: it is about which regime applies, which can mean very different amounts. Knowing where it happened is often worth more than knowing how.

## When damage shows on opening

**En corto**

- Photograph before moving anything, with the packaging still as it arrived.
- Note the reservation on the delivery document, at the time.
- Recover whatever was recorded at each earlier point.
- And notify whoever organised the transport promptly: deadlines here are short.

> [!NOTE]
> Which convention or regime applies to each leg, what limits it carries and within what period you must claim depends on the mode, the route and the contract. **Your freight forwarder or adviser settles that**; here it is about keeping what will show where it happened.

**Can I ask for a record at each transhipment?**

You can agree it with the organiser; it is not always offered as standard.

**Are phone photos any use?**

Very much so: what matters is that the identifiable load and the moment are visible.

**What if the damage only shows on unpacking?**

Photograph and notify anyway: the clock starts at delivery.

## Ejemplos

**A company claims for damage on a three-leg shipment and no carrier accepts responsibility.**

- Photographs the load at each change of hands and files it all together

→ The next damage is pinned to one specific leg, which is what makes a claim move.

**Damage appears and nobody knows which leg it happened on.**

- Records the condition at each change of mode

→ You can narrow down where it occurred.

**Documentation changes with the mode and nobody reviews it.**

- Checks what is missing before each handover

→ The gap is caught before the delay.

**One leg is run by an operator with their own system.**

- Collects and stores what they provide

→ Your own archive stays complete.

**A client asks where their shipment is.**

- Checks the file with the recorded handovers

→ You answer with what exists rather than with a phone call.

**Days pass with no news and nobody raises the alarm.**

- Warns when a shipment has gone too long without movement

→ Silence stops being mistaken for normality.