Cabotage: reviewing the transport order before departure

Cabotage does not begin with any domestic delivery. Before departure, the carrier should be able to identify the preceding international carriage, the place and time of its last unloading and every domestic operation already planned or completed with the same vehicle.

Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 permits cabotage only under defined conditions. A transport order therefore needs more than a collection address, delivery address and price. It should connect the preceding international carriage, vehicle, unloadings, host Member State and evidence required in a roadside check.

This article focuses on reviewing the transport order before a cabotage journey. The classification depends on the route, order, vehicle, carrier, documents and actual sequence. National requirements and other duties may also need to be assessed.

Article 2(6) of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 defines cabotage as national carriage for hire or reward carried out temporarily in a host Member State by a haulier established in another Member State. The fact that a vehicle has crossed a border is therefore not enough. A domestic carriage between two places in the host state may be cabotage if the Union requirements are met.

Transit is different. A vehicle passing through a Member State without carrying out domestic carriage between two places in that state is not cabotage merely because it uses the territory. An international carriage from a place in one state to a place in another must also be distinguished from a later domestic order in the receiving state.

The topic on cross-border carriage of goods explains the international framework. The page on freight forwarding and logistics contracts helps distinguish the roles of forwarder and carrier.

Article 8(2) links permitted cabotage to a preceding international carriage in which the goods have been delivered in the host Member State. The order should therefore identify the international journey on which the domestic operation is based. A general framework agreement without a link to the individual shipment makes the required connection difficult to prove.

The file should normally include the order, CMR consignment note, proof of taking over and delivery, and the details of the motor vehicle and, where relevant, trailer. The documents should carry the same shipment reference. Changes should be retained with their time, sender and affected shipment.

Article 8(3) lists key information for each carriage, including the sender, carrier, consignee and delivery date, the places and dates of taking over and delivery, the goods, packages, gross mass and registration numbers. The page on consignment notes and documentation explains how to keep this chain traceable.

Under Article 8(2), after delivery of the preceding international carriage, up to three cabotage operations may be carried out with the same vehicle. The last unloading in a cabotage operation in the host Member State must take place within seven days of the last unloading of the international carriage in that state. The period and count must be tied to the actual sequence, not to an informal calendar-week calculation.

The dispatcher and carrier should therefore keep an unloading schedule for the vehicle concerned. For each planned operation, record the state, taking-over place, delivery place, goods, unloading time and vehicle. If a journey is cancelled, postponed or assigned to another vehicle, update the schedule and retain the previous version.

The number three is not a general clearance for three arbitrary orders. Each carriage still has to meet the applicable requirements, and the time limit remains relevant if an unloading is postponed.

Within the period in Article 8(2), some or all permitted cabotage operations may be carried out in other Member States. Additional requirements apply to that change. Following an unladen entry into another Member State, cabotage there is limited to one operation within three days.

The actual vehicle movement therefore matters. The order should record not only the destination state but also whether the vehicle entered another Member State unladen, when that happened and where the domestic loading is planned. Border crossing, loading and unloading should be linked to the relevant documents.

A route with several short-notice changes needs a continuing vehicle file. Before releasing the next order, dispatch should compare route, laden status and supporting documents.

Article 8(2a) of Regulation (EC) No 1072/2009 prohibits cabotage with the same vehicle in the same Member State within four days following the end of a cabotage operation in that state. Counting operations alone is therefore not sufficient. The end of the last cabotage operation must be recorded separately for each state.

A practical order file should contain a field for the last cabotage operation, the end of unloading and the earliest possible start of another operation in the same state. The calculation must use the actual time. A broad note such as “possible next week” may be wrong if delivery is postponed.

The rule concerns the same vehicle or, in a coupled combination, the motor vehicle of that combination. A vehicle change is therefore not merely an internal scheduling detail. The registration number, time and order must remain traceable.

Article 8(3) requires the non-resident haulier to produce clear evidence of the preceding international carriage and each consecutive cabotage operation. If the vehicle was in the host Member State during the four days before the international carriage, evidence of all operations carried out during that period must also be available.

Article 8(4a) allows the evidence to be presented electronically during a roadside check in a revisable structured format. It expressly refers to an electronic consignment note under the Additional Protocol to the CMR Convention as an example. The electronic file must therefore be accessible, linked to the journey and understandable in its current version.

The order should identify who makes the documents available to the driver, who can answer a query and how additions are stored. The shipping-document checklist supports the general document review but does not replace the cabotage assessment.

International basis: Record the reference, sender, consignee, places of taking over and delivery and the last unloading time of the preceding international carriage.

Vehicle: Enter the correct registration numbers and actual assignment of the motor vehicle and trailer. Changes must be traceable in the transport file.

Cabotage sequence: For each domestic operation, record the state, taking-over place, delivery place and unloading time. Reconcile the count and seven-day period with the international carriage.

Change of state: If the vehicle enters another Member State unladen, record the time. Do not lose the one-operation and three-day restriction in a changing route.

Standstill: Mark the end of the last cabotage operation in every state before assigning another operation there.

Evidence: Keep consignment notes, delivery records and electronic data accessible to the driver and transport management.

Checking only the domestic delivery address: Without the preceding international carriage, the cabotage basis is not established.

Counting operations by calendar week: The relevant periods run from the last international unloading and the last cabotage operation in the same state.

Failing to reconcile the order with actual unloading: A changed sequence can affect both the calculation and the evidence.

Leaving vehicle changes undocumented: The operation sequence is vehicle-specific and a new registration number needs a clear assignment.

Treating the consignment note as the only evidence: The control may require evidence of the international carriage and each cabotage operation.

Using electronic data without version control: Additions must remain linked to the relevant journey and valid version.

Create a chronological overview for the vehicle. Start with the international carriage and add every taking over, unloading, Member State and vehicle change. Link the overview to the individual orders and consignment notes.

Then review the permitted number and periods. If the preceding carriage, unloading or vehicle assignment is unclear, obtain the missing documents before departure. If an order, roadside check or cost exposure is disputed, preserve and legally organise the complete transport file and communication chain.

The CMR and transport contract overview complements the cabotage review. For an initial orientation after cargo damage, use the CMR liability check.

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