ONE DOCUMENT FOR THE ENTIRE JOURNEY: WHAT CHANGES WITH THE ACCRA CONVENTION?

The new United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents aims to address a very specific challenge in international transport: the same goods may move from truck to ship, train or aircraft, but the document representing the rights to those goods should not have to be reinvented at every stage. For a freight forwarder such as Transped, the key areas of interest are multimodal operations, document traceability and the relationship between transport, the sale and purchase of goods, and financing.

A familiar gap in multimodal transport

In maritime transport, the Bill of Lading can serve as a document of title to the goods. The lawful holder of that document may exercise certain rights over the goods and, subject to the applicable conditions, transfer those rights while the cargo is still in transit. In road, rail and air transport, standard consignment notes do not usually perform the same function.

The Accra Convention, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 15 December 2025, creates a new Negotiable Cargo Document, or NCD, that can be used regardless of the mode of transport. UNCITRAL expressly states that it may exist in paper or electronic form and may cover an entire journey, including where several modes of transport are involved.

The innovation is not about combining documents into a PDF. It is about enabling a single document to legally represent the goods throughout a multimodal transport operation.

What this means for a Transped operation

Consider an import shipment from a factory in inland China to a warehouse in Spain. Transped may coordinate the road collection, terminal handling, sea freight to Valencia and final delivery. Each leg will still require its own operational and regulatory information, but the NCD can serve as the negotiable document that provides the legal link to the goods throughout the entire journey.

The Convention requires the document to identify, among other details, the transport operator and the shipper, describe the goods, state their quantity or weight, record their apparent condition when taken in charge, and specify the place of receipt and delivery. It may also include information on the intended route, the modes of transport involved and any transhipment points. For a freight forwarder, this brings the document much closer to the reality of a door-to-door operation than to a single, isolated transport leg.

The freight forwarder takes on greater legal significance

FIATA has actively supported the Convention because it recognises the role of the freight forwarder when acting as the contractual carrier in a multimodal transport operation. A forwarder does not need to physically operate the ship, aircraft or truck in order to assume contractual responsibility towards the customer for organising the transport. This principle already exists in instruments such as the FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading, or FBL, which has been in use since 1968.

The difference is that the Convention aims to provide a harmonised international legal framework for negotiable documents of this kind. FIATA also highlights that the system is voluntary and that it can strengthen legal certainty for forwarders issuing multimodal transport documents, including electronic formats such as the eFBL.

For the customer, the key change is not having fewer documents, but knowing which document establishes control over goods moving across multiple modes of transport, countries and operators.

It also affects trade finance and the sale of goods

The negotiable nature of the document has an important commercial consequence. Under the Convention, transferring the NCD can have the same effect as physical delivery for the purpose of acquiring rights over the goods. The lawful holder may also demand delivery at destination. This means that goods can be sold or used within certain financing arrangements while they are still in transit.

This is particularly relevant for banks, exporters and importers that need certainty over who controls the goods while they are in transit. UNCITRAL expressly identifies trade finance and the sale of goods in transit among the objectives of the Convention.

Digital does not simply mean PDF

The Convention allows for electronic NCDs, but requires more than simply sending a file by email. The system must ensure the integrity of the document and identify who has exclusive control over it, so that it can be issued, transferred or replaced without creating multiple originals at the same time. This approach is in line with the developments FIATA is already promoting through the eFBL and with the ongoing digitalisation of documentation processes in international trade.

A negotiable electronic document must make it possible to prove who controls it. That is the difference between digitising a piece of paper and digitising a right over the goods.

What changes for customers now

As of late September 2026, the Convention is not yet in force. It will open for signature on 26 October 2026 in Accra, Ghana, and will require ten ratifications, acceptances, approvals or accessions before it can enter into force, which will happen 180 days after that threshold is reached. Its use will also be optional: the shipper and the transport operator will need to agree to use it.

This means that Transped customers will not suddenly face a new documentary requirement. What matters is that a common framework is being created for a reality that freight forwarders manage every day: goods making a single commercial journey even though they may cross multiple modes of transport, carriers and borders before reaching their destination. If the Convention is widely adopted, the document representing those goods could begin to reflect that continuity more accurately.

Sources for further information

UNCITRAL, United Nations Convention on Negotiable Cargo Documents (Accra Convention), objectives, legal effects, content and electronic documents. uncitral.un.org/es/ncdconvention

United Nations Treaty Collection, status of the Convention, opening for signature on 26 October 2026, and the requirement of ten instruments for its entry into force. treaties.un.org

FIATA, *Strengthening Freight Forwarders’ Role in Multimodal Transport: The New NCD Convention*, implications for freight forwarders and contractual carriers. fiata.org

FIATA, Practical Guide / eFBL, evolution of the FIATA Multimodal Transport Bill of Lading and its electronic version. fiata.org