Interaction of Transnational Regulation and Norms of International Law in Ensuring the Regimes of Maritime Carriage of Goods

INTRODUCTION. This article explores the interaction between international legal regimes for maritime transport and the transnational regulation established by private operators. It demonstrates that the norms of international treaties form the foundational framework for order in the maritime transport market, while day-to-day commercial practice is governed by other normative blocks, predominantly transnational rules created by Western corporations, oſten operating in monopolistic or oligopolistic market structures. This is particularly evident in the spheres of chartering and insurance. Consequently, the global maritime transport market and its order are structured on at least two levels of governance: international legal regulation and transnational regulation. The "lower" level is more volatile and politicized; it can either reinforce the overall transport order or weaken, and even substantially disrupt, it. Political norms and national legislation also exert their own influence on order within the transport sector.

MATERIALS AND METHODS. The study is built on a combination of formal-legal and systemic methods, which allow for the analysis of the norms of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and IMO instruments (SOLAS, MARPOL, the ISM Code, and the IMDG Code) not in isolation, but in their functional unity. Additionally, the comparative legal method was applied (to compare approaches to regulating chartering and insurance) along with the legal modeling method (for analyzing the formation of "mixed regimes" of transit). Special attention is given to the case-study method, which, using the examples of the Strait of Hormuz and anti-Russian sanctions, made it possible to identify the mechanisms of transformation of transnational regulation under the influence of political factors.

RESEARCH RESULTS. Illustratively, the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by Western states and the conduct of corporations under their control in the sphere of maritime cargo transport demonstrate how transnational regulation, succumbing to political interests, loses its stabilizing function and itself becomes a source of risks. The result of this study is the identifi-cation of a specific nexus of legal uncertainty: concerning the transit passage through strategic straits, the framework provided by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Part III, Arts. 37–44) enters into a complex relationship with the non-participation of certain coastal states (using Iran as an example) and the ambiguity of customary norms. The case study of the Strait of Hormuz demonstrates that the priority given to national security logic and countermeasures can lead to the formation of a local "mixed regime" for transit, where international treaties, customary law, national regulations, and political decisions operate concurrently.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The current situation in the global maritime transport market leads to the conclusion that there is a need to strengthen inter-state regulation, including through the creation of regional normative complexes within non-Western associations (BRICS, EAEU) capable of competing with the dominant transnational corporations in regulating transport markets.

1. Berling'eri F. Sravnitel'nyj analiz Gaagsko-Visbijskih pravil, Gamburgskih pravil i Rotterdamskih pravil [Comparative Analysis of the Hague-Visby Rules, the Hamburg Rules, and the Rotterdam Rules]. Doklad na General'noj assamblee AMD. Marrakesh. 5–6 noyabrya. 2009. (In Russ.)

2. CHepurnoj A.G. Evolyuciya pravovogo regulirovaniya otvetstvennosti morskogo perevozchika: ot Gaagskih k Rotterdamskim pravilam [Evolution of Legal Regulation of Maritime Carrier Liability: From the Hague to the Rotterdam Rules]. – Mezhdunarodnoe publichnoe i chastnoe pravo [International Public and Private Law]. 2025. № 2. S. 45-53. (In Russ.)

3. CHerchill' R.R., Lou A.V. Morskoe pravo [Maritime Law]. 3-e izd. Manchester: Izd-vo Manchesterskogo universiteta. 1999. 517 s. (In Russ.)

4. Cvetkova D.D., Proshina O.M., Leshed'ko E.A. Ocenka vliyaniya antirossijskih sankcij na deyatel'nost' predpriyatij morskogo transporta [Assessing the impact of anti-Russian sanctions on the activities of maritime transport enterprises]. – Molodoj uchenyj [Young scientist]. 2024. № 11 (510). S. 300-303. URL: https://moluch.ru/archive/510/112008 (data obrashcheniya: 20.03.2026). (In Russ.)

5. D'yachenko A.S. Fragmentaciya mezhdunarodnogo prava i morskie perevozki [Fragmentation of International Law and Maritime Transport]. – Moskovskij zhurnal mezhdunarodnogo prava [Moscow Journal of International Law]. 2024. № 1. S. 24-43. (In Russ.)

6. Galenskaya L.N. Pravovoe regulirovanie transnacional'nyh otnoshenij [Legal Regulation of Transnational Relations]. Saint Petersburg: Izd-vo SPbGU. 2022. 316 s. (In Russ.)

7. Gavrilina I.A. Rol' P&I klubov v sisteme strahovaniya morskih perevozok [The Role of P&I Clubs in the Marine Insurance System]. – Strahovoe pravo [Insurance Law]. 2023. № 3. S. 52-60. (In Russ.)

8. Kaminski T., Karski K. (red.). 40 let Konvencii OON po morskomu pravu: ocenka i perspektivy [40 Years of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea: Assessment and Prospects]. London: Routledge. 2025. 450 s. (In Russ.)

9. Klyajn N. (red.). Netradicionnoe pravotvorchestvo v morskom prave [Unconventional Lawmaking in the Law of the Sea]. Oksford: Oxford University Press. 2022. 368 s. (In Russ.)

10. Kolosovskij A.V. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye aspekty cifrovizacii morskih perevozok [International legal aspects of the digitalization of maritime transportation]. – Vestnik mezhdunarodnogo prava [International Law Bulletin]. 2025. № 4. S. 105-115. (In Russ.)

11. Kosovskaya V.A. Effektivnost' sovremennogo mezhdunarodno-pravovogo regulirovaniya morskih perevozok gruzov [The effectiveness of modern international legal regulation of sea freight transportation]. – Vestnik MGPU. Seriya «YUridicheskie nauki» [Moscow State Pedagogical Univ. Series "Legal Sciences"]. 2020. № 1. S. 46-54. (In Russ.)

12. Koval' V.N. Pravovoe regulirovanie morskih perevozok gruzov v usloviyah globalizacii [Legal regulation of sea freight transportation in the context of globalization]. Moscow: KNORUS. 2022. 288 s. (In Russ.)

13. Koval' V.N., Vasil'ev S.A., Godovanik E.V. Mezhdunarodno-pravovoe regulirovanie deyatel'nosti gosudarstv v Bol'shom Sredizemnomorskom regione [International legal regulation of the activities of states in the Greater Mediterranean region]. – Russian Journal of World Politics and Law of Nations. 2025. (In Russ.)

14. Labin D.K., Koval' V.N. (red.). Mezhdunarodnoe morskoe pravo: publichnoe i chastnoe [International Maritime Law: Public and Private]. Moscow: KNORUS. 2026. 412 s. (In Russ.)

15. Lukashuk I.I. Mezhdunarodnoe pravo. Obshchaya chast' [International Law. General Part]. Moscow: Volters Kluver. 2010. 432 s. (In Russ.)

16. Nikitina A.P., Mihajlova A.D. Organizaciya morskih perevozok po dogovoru frahtovaniya morskogo sudna [Organization of Maritime Transportation under a Contract of Chartering a Seagoing Vessel]. – Uchenye zapiski Krymskogo federal'nogo universiteta imeni V.I. Vernadskogo YUridicheskie nauki [Scientific Notes of the Crimean Federal University named after V.I. Vernadsky. Legal Sciences]. 2019. T. 5 (71). № 3. S. 380-386. (In Russ.)

17. Prognozy razvitiya mezhdunarodnogo ekonomicheskogo prava i mezhdunarodnogo pravoporyadka v XXI veke [Forecasts for the Development of International Economic Law and International Legal Order in the 21st Century]. Kollektivnaya monografiya. Pod red. V.M. SHumilova. Moscow: VAVT. 2026. 163 s. (In Russ.)

18. Ratnikova T.N., Belikova N.A. Antirossijskie sankcii v mezhdunarodnoj torgovle [Anti-Russian Sanctions in International Trade]. – Rossijskij vneshneekonomicheskij vestnik [Russian Foreign Trade Bulletin]. 2024. № 7. S. 68-81. (In Russ.)

19. Rubanov A.A. Eksterritorial'noe dejstvie prava v sfere morskih perevozok [Extraterritorial Effect of Law in the Sphere of Maritime Transport]. – ZHurnal zarubezhnogo zakonodatel'stva i sravnitel'nogo pravovedeniya [Journal of Foreign Legislation and Comparative Law]. 2024. № 6. S. 88-97. (In Russ.)

20. Rusinov I.A., Gavrilova I.A., Nelogov A.G. Deyatel'nost' linejnyh konferencij nakanune prinyatiya Konvencii OON o Kodekse povedeniya linejnyh konferencij [Activities of Liner Conferences on the Eve of the Adoption of the UN Convention on the Code of Conduct for Liner Conferences]. – Vestnik Gosudarstvennogo universiteta morskogo i rechnogo flota imeni admirala S.O. Makarova [Bulletin of the Admiral S. O. Makarov State University of Maritime and Inland Shipping]. 2016. № 2 (36). S. 56-66. (In Russ.)

21. Rusinov I.A., SHCHerbinin N.V. Mezhdunarodnaya praktika regulirovaniya linejnyh kontejnernyh perevozok v transportnoj sisteme [International practice of regulating liner container shipping in the transport system]. – Evrazijskaya integraciya: ekonomika, pravo, politika [Eurasian integration: economics, law, politics]. 2024. T. 18. № 1. S. 38-47. (In Russ.)

22. SHmeleva V.A. 2018. Vopros pravosub"ektnosti transnacional'nyh korporacij v mezhdunarodnom prave [The Issue of Legal Personality of Transnational Corporations in International Law]. – Epomen. № 16. S. 135-138. (In Russ.)

23. SHumilov V.M. Global'naya normativnaya sistema i ee sostavlyayushchie [The Global Normative System and Its Components]. – Gosudarstvo i pravo [State and Law]. 2017. № 4. S. 72-78. (In Russ.)

24. SHumilov V.M. Mezhdunarodnoe parvo [International Law]. Moscow: YUsticiya. 2020. 508 s. (In Russ.)

25. Sobolev I.D. mercatoria and soft law as part of non-state sources of international sea transportation regulation [Lex mercatoria and soft law as part of non-state sources of international sea transportation regulation]. – Sovremennaya nauka: aktual'nye problemy teorii i praktiki. Seriya: Ekonomika i pravo [Modern science: current problems of theory and practice. Series: Economics and law]. 2023. Lex № 5. S. 138-142. (In Russ.)

26. YUNKTAD. Obzor morskogo transporta, 2025: sohranenie kursa v turbulentnyh vodah [UNCTAD. Maritime Transport Review 2025: Staying on Course in Turbulent Waters]. New York: UN. 2025. 154 s. (In Russ.)