Maritime Law

As previously reported, the Ever Forward, a Hong Kong flagged ship stuck near Gibson Island in the Chesapeake Bay channel since the 13th of March 2022...

18 days and counting - that's the number of days that the Ever Forward, a 11,850 TEU capacity container ship has been stuck in...

The risk of war is nothing new to the shipping, freight and maritime industry, having navigated through many of these situations.. Many charter parties include...

The groundwork for Admiralty laws in India were laid simultaneously with the codification of Admiralty laws in England. Even post-independence, the issues relating to...

Captain Sunil Kumar Nandeshwar and First Officer, Hitihanillage Subhoda Janendra Tilakaratna of the 203,000 DWT Capesize vessel Wakashio which hit a coral reef and...

The Constitutional Court has recently rejected an application for leave to appeal brought by a shipowner, Parakou Shipping Pte Ltd against a judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) upholding the arrest of an associated ship.

In doing so, the Constitutional Court found that the application for leave to appeal did not raise a constitutional issue.

Whether for its size and status as one of the largest container ships in the world or because it was famously termed as a “boat that was stuck in a canal”, the Ever Given will remain in people’s minds either as a memorable incident (to those who worked to free it) or as a haunting incident (to the ship owner, ship operator, ship crew and soon maybe the customers)..

Muthu Jagannath of NAU Pte Ltd., provides relevant and pertinent information about the Ever Given, its arrest, the implications of the arrest, insurance and counter claims in this article originally published on their website..

Chartering is an important concept of the global maritime trade sector and it consists of different types. One of the forms of carrying out a maritime business is a time charter. Under a time charter, the owners undertake to place their ship at the disposal of the charterers for a defined period of time for the carriage of goods in accordance with the charterer’s instruction, while the ship remains in both the ownership and possession of the owners, and the officers and crew who man her will be the employees of the owners, not the charterers. In this article we are going to look at some particulars of time charters and, in particular, New York Produce Exchange Form 1993 (NYPE 1993) recommended by BIMCO and FONASBA.

With the Ever Given still “legally” stuck in the Great Bitter Lakes in Suez Canal, discussions and concerns have turned to various other issues relating to the cargo, the ship’s crew and General Average.

The “arrest” of the ship by the Suez Canal Authority (SCA) which intends to recover losses of around $916 million including $300 million for salvage bonus and $300 million for loss of reputation, has further complicated life for the ship crew who must have been having anxious moments no doubt.

The fragility of trade routes which had been sorely tested by disruptions caused by Covid 19, shortage of containers and increased freight rates was...

On the 23rd of March 2020, the President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa declared a nationwide lock-down as of the midnight of Thursday 26th March 2020..

The lockdown is part of South Africa's bid to contain and slow down the spread of Coronavirus COVID-19 in the country and enforces a total lockdown on all services with exception of essential services as defined in the Regulations issued on the 25th of March 2020..

In line with these regulations, Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) announced that they will remain operational to support the transportation of essential goods and services as well as those goods and services that support the production or provision of those essential goods and services to the country..

Citing the unforeseen impact of COVID-19 as beyond their control, TPT has advised their customers that they are invoking the provisions of the Force Majeure clauses in TPT’s commercial agreements and Standard Trading Terms and Conditions..

In our latest edition of Executive Insights, Shipping and Freight Resource caught up with Andrew Pike for his insights into the Maritime industry specifically in South Africa and also about his new book "Against All Odds" The epic story of the OCEANOS rescue..

Limitation of liability is a concept that allows a carrier to limit their liability for maritime claims up to a limited sum regardless of the actual monetary value of the claim.. In short, there is a limit on the maximum amount of compensation that a carrier may need to pay..

Despite the varying forms, the main characteristic of the limitation of liability is that, while in principal the carrier may be liable for damages, the extent of their liability is reduced by this limitation..

Limitation of liability is governed by a number of Conventions adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and is expressed in Special Drawing Rights (SDR)..

There are a few popularly used conventions and rules covering the Carriage of Goods by Sea and this article by Ali Shami compares the limitation of liability in the various contracts of carriage by sea..

Many of you may have heard about ship register, ship registration, ship registry, flag state, flags of convenience etc.. While a few are synonyms, the rest are not..

This article discusses the various aspects of ship registration, the types of ship registers, the conditions required to be part of a ship register, what is a flag of convenience and flag state..

Article discussing a dispute between a shipper and his agent relating to the shipment of the goods, ETA and freight.. This maybe an eye opener for several other people who maybe in this predicament or situation and need to know these intimate details of shipping..

Article giving a brief about General Average, what is it and how and who gets affected by it..

If a cargo has been abandoned at the destination, is the freight forwarder that booked the cargo responsible or liable to the shipping line..?? Let's see the answer to this important question..

International Maritime Trade Law - To help generate awareness of maritime trade and the law of the sea, Norwich University has created an infographic shown below that addresses the freedom of the seas, security and piracy. As the occurrence of incidents increases by 25% every year, the awareness and understanding of piracy is crucial for it’s recession.

Shah Nawaz wanted to know who is responsible if his containers fell overboard and what should be the next course of action.. We had loaded...