水陸兩用運具（又稱鴨子船）目前由高雄市引進發展河港城市觀光，其係 水以同一形體行驶於水、陸域’提供旅客車船合一的休憩載具。然而該 載具之運送契約究竟屬何種類型及應如何適用法律規定等營運上私法的問題 目前尚未有相關文獻進行探討，而且美國也發生有關該種載具之傷亡事件。
因此本研究擬調查高雄市水陸兩用運具實務作業與營運現況，藉由瞭解水陸 兩用運具在國外發生之案例，分析水陸兩用運具運送契約性質及該載具所應 適用之法規，對於其運送人之責任進行初探。本研究結果發現高雄市水陸兩 用運具並非海商法的船舶，所以其旅客運送契約責任應依民法之規定，負有 普通事變責任，且無海商法船舶所有人責任限制之適用，其責任相較其他海 上旅客運送契約責任為重。

Amphibious vehicles (named as “Duck Boats”) are used by Kaohsiung City to transport passengers over land and water in promoting the city’s sightseeing attractions. These vehicles in the form of both vehicle and craft provide passengers with the special experiences of being in and out of water. However, there was an accident related to the same kind of vehicles in the U.S., but there is no existing literature that investigated the liability of such carrier. The current study reviews the operation of the Duck Boats in Kaohsiung City and the foreign cases of vehicle accidents and clarifies the definition of amphibious vehicle passenger transport contract. The main purpose is to investigate the carrier liability of such vehicles in Taiwan. The results show that Duck Boats are not the vessels defined in Maritime Law and the carrier liability should be subject to the Civil Law. As a result, the carrier is liable to normal incident in Civil Law which is stricter than the liability of passenger transport in Maritime Law.