Articles

Having recently ourselves settled a case involving a tug that had fallen out of class shortly before the incident in question, it was interesting to see that such a case has recently found its way from an arbitration award to the Court of Appeal in London. It is seldom the case (and was not in…

The industry is still some years away from the first unmanned and autonomous tug undertaking a tow. If such a thing appeared until recently unthinkable, consider the incredible strides forward taken with unmanned engine rooms, auto-helm, ARPA and now AIS, satellite communications, GPS, electronic navigation and displays and now hybrid power trains. That it is…

Simon Tatham looks at how the routine top-overhaul of a four-stroke V16 port engine of a tug led to a 10-year court battle over the purchase order wording One of my tasks as columnist is to trawl through recent shipping law reports and alert readers to decisions that might impact upon their tug operations or…

Simon Tatham looks back at a case where a scientist’s expert advice was that fish might actually enjoy dining on a ‘natural product’ such as heavy fuel oil. Cases can have many twists and turns, some spectacular. The first unfortunate turn in the case of Hyundai New World was made after it had loaded a…

I have attended the Salvage & Wreck conference in London for more years than I care to admit. The December event was particularly well attended and interesting. One of the central debates took place around LOF and the various discussion papers that have been put forward over the future of salvage contracts now that salvage…

It would be a simple matter to run through the changes made to BIMCO’s Supplytime 2017, updated from the well-used 2005 edition. I suspect well before the end of the piece, all but the most patient and earnest contract negotiators or trainee defence club lawyers would be turning the page. Moreover, one can do little…

Salvors can get very excited about the prospects of a high reward where a salved vessel was carrying potentially polluting substances. However, the place that the environment holds in salvage law has had a particularly difficult history and in practice there are a number of restraining factors. The ISU’s focus in recent times has certainly been…

Salvors prefer rich pickings. Where, however, a ship has a low damaged value, and where there is no valuable cargo on board that can be saved, there is little to incentivise a salvor to undertake a rescue operation. In the past, if the vessel grounded on or sank off the more remote shorelines of the…

At ITS 2018 Marseille more than a dozen shipyards vied for the attention of operators. Challenged whether their products were a work of art, invariably they replied: “Yes, of course!” Those smiling salesmen probably did not have in mind that a picture of their fine craft might one day hang in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam or…

It would be difficult to attempt to list a set of comprehensive guidelines to avoid problems getting paid under TOWCON, when a voyage has not gone according to plan. A good broker should keep the parties talking, ensure most differences are resolved and that the tug gets paid. When therefore the first call comes in from…