4th September 2025
Simon Tatham examines the legal issues encountered when ships break their moorings in harbours, prompting tugboat assistance Broken mooring lines are a source of work for harbour tugs. Leaving aside the consideration of the potentially horrible consequences for ship crew or harbour staff caught in the way, the typical scenario is one brought about by…
7th April 2025
Simon Tatham explains the legal and salvage implications from the collision of the container ship into the product tanker in UK waters The recent incident involving the tanker Stena Immaculate, struck at anchor off the River Humber in poor visibility by the small container vessel Solong, brings into play numerous issues of maritime law and practice. Starting with…
29th October 2024
In certain ship grounding situations, a tug owner that has assisted a distressed vessel could claim for salvage or accept tariff rates; each has potential legal, insurance and contractual ramifications. I recall a case where a vessel was blown off its berth in South America and although quite lightly aground on the opposite bank, was…
28th June 2024
Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) 2024 has now been published by Lloyd’s of London, its 14th edition since it was first launched in 1908, replacing the 2020 Form. Lloyd’s Salvage & Arbitration Branch summarised the update in May 2024 with changes that will impact salvors, insurers and shipowners. Firstly, there are no changes to the form…
5th April 2024
Simon Tatham explains the importance of security: LOUs and guarantees covering shipping claims, salvage and wreck removal “Security is nine-tenths of the law” was my first boss’s mantra. I explain this unique feature of maritime law with this analogy. A building has a lending bank, a builder, tenants, occupiers, suppliers, insurers and may store goods…
2nd April 2024
Simon Tatham provides examples of how vessel owners and seafarers are prosecuted by maritime administrations following avoidable accidents Maritime administrations continue to pursue the prosecution of both seafarers and owners following accidents and incidents. In the UK, a good number of these relate to the leisure sector, from over-enthusiastic partygoers setting off fire extinguishers on…
14th February 2024
Simon Tatham describes the legal conundrum and rigmarole after a barge and its cargo sliced through a naval floating dock during adverse weather. Setting the scene of an incident: a harbour tug is heading into port with barge and its cargo astern, undertaking the final part of a jack-up rig’s delivery for repairs. The jack-up…
24th October 2023
Simon Tatham explains why UK Standard Conditions of Towage enable substitute tug owners to sue shipowners for damage or loss In the tug world, tug damage, however caused, is generally at the risk and expense of the ships they assist. However, the terms that largely today protect tugs have their history and are frequently the…
1st September 2023
Simon Tatham describes the latest reported Lloyd’s arbitration award and the route to a fair payout Now Lloyd’s of London publishes Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) awards it is useful to occasionally report on the latest cases. Such awards assist in managing the expectations of salvors and underwriters alike and act as guidance for future negotiations,…
4th August 2023
Each year, around 800 Bimco BARGEHIRE contracts are signed, currently on its SmartCon platform. It is understandable, with such an uptake, that Bimco should periodically review this barge-leasing contract. The most recent iteration of the 1994 and 2008 versions was published in 2021. The above usage excludes hybrid versions developed in-house by some of the…
