28th July 2021
Regular columnist Simon Tatham provides insight into the Admiralty Solicitors Group salvage agreements and arbitration proceedings There was consternation as to whether Lloyd’s would continue to operate the Lloyd’s Salvage Arbitration Branch (LSAB) and therefore support Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF). Lloyd’s has since confirmed its commitment to LSAB and LOF. There have also been concerns…
20th June 2021
It has been more than two months since salvors unblocked the Suez Canal by refloating 20,000-TEU container ship Ever Given and yet the vessel remains in Egypt awaiting compensation payments and its release. If discussions do not result in a compromise, it is the receivers of cargo on board Ever Given that will continue to bear the brunt of…
5th April 2021
ITS March 2021 Maritime Law Volume 2 “A ship due to exit a narrow channel may be under an obligation to give way” Regular columnist Simon Tatham tackles the legal conclusions from the English Supreme Court ruling for when vessels are crossing at the entrance to narrow channels Let us assume your tug is leaving…
9th February 2021
Regular columnist Simon Tatham casts a legal eye over what is to be expected within the 2021 updates of BIMCO’s TOWCON and TOWHIRE standard contracts Contractual workhorses of the towage world, TOWCON and TOWHIRE 2008 have just been updated with the 2021 editions and are to be published by BIMCO very shortly, after final review by their drafting committee. The finalised forms are eagerly awaited. That is not…
30th September 2020
In February 1977 a vessel in ballast, Unique Mariner, ran aground in Indonesian waters not far from Singapore. The master was advised by ship’s agents that a tug would be sourced. A professional salvor’s tug turned up from Singapore and the master mistakenly thinking that it was the tug procured by the agents, signed Lloyd’s…
15th July 2020
I am into week six of lockdown. The new office is closed and all partners and staff working, more or less happily, from home. The roses are out, the potatoes are in, the lettuce are pushing on but there is absolutely no sign of the parsley (sown late because more efficient people ordered up the…
12th May 2020
In this article we discuss the main practicalities of invoking clause 20 of the BARGEHIRE 2008 contract which is a force majeure clause. This might be because a shutdown in the field of operation means that it cannot be manned or loaded, that the cargo destined to be carried is very seriously delayed or simply…
6th May 2020
At the time of writing, Northern Europe has been hit by large storms, posing danger to shipping. Imagine then, that your tug is on return passage to Scandinavia from the US when it picks up a Pan-Pan signal. Deviating towards the ship in distress, its master advises by VHF that they have been drifting for…
5th March 2020
On 11 March 2020 the World Health Organisation designated the Covid 19 virus as a pandemic. We have since received a number of enquiries…
20th January 2020
Lloyd’s has declared, like a good port, the new Lloyd’s Open Form 2020. It’s the 13th iteration of what is arguably the longest standing and most successful of marine services contracts. Is this a vintage edition? For sure, much work has been devoted by colleagues in the Salvage Working Group, in London, to bring the…
