Maritime law
Contentious and non-contentious expertise for ship owners and
operators, P&I Clubs and marine insurers, yacht and cargo
interests, port operators and intermediaries, and dealing with all
maritime concerns including hull, protection and indemnity, cargo
and goods-in-transit.
Maritime law covers a vast range of issues with one thing in
common – their potential to impact on the commercial performance of
the organisations involved. With so many different areas of
concern, experienced legal advice based on a thorough understanding
of the shipping business and its associated activities is an
essential requirement.
Weightmans' Maritime Law team is truly expert in this field,
having a lengthy association with maritime affairs and unmatched
experience in handling the complexities of law in both routine and
non-routine circumstances.
Whatever category of business you represent, with Weightmans you
will benefit from the highest level of expertise, founded on sound
technical understanding of the issues and informed by clear
understanding of the commercial implications.
For ship owners and operators, our expert lawyers handle
disputes under bills of lading, charter parties and carriage
agreements, claims for stevedore damage, demurrage, hire, freight
and other debts. We advise on all aspects of marine insurance
including protection and indemnity.
We advise on shipbuilding, repair and conversion contracts and
disputes, and deal with marine personal injury investigations and
claims.
In addition, we advise on hull and yacht insurance market
conditions and policy disputes. We also deal with ship, superyacht
and yacht casualties involving collisions, groundings, salvage and
pollution and related regulatory inquiries.
Our services relating to cargo and goods-in-transit include
dealing with claims arising from the movement of goods, including
cargo recoveries and claims involving ship casualties, salvage and
general average.
We advise on liability, quantum and jurisdiction claims and
issues under the CMR Convention and standard trading conditions. We
regularly handle cases involving multi-modal transport and carriage
of goods by road and rail and during warehousing and forwarding. We
also advise on market cargo conditions and policy disputes.
For port and terminal operators, ship management and logistics
companies, forwarding agents, other intermediaries and their
insurers, we offer a further array of services. These include
handling claims involving damage to property or equipment, loss or
delay in delivery of cargo, responsibility for pollution and
environmental damage, personal injuries and regulatory advice.
In all areas, we provide effective enforcement measures
including ship arrests, liens, freezing orders and emergency court
procedures.
In non-contentious matters, we advise on and draft user
agreements, carriage and charter contracts and related standard
terms and conditions, ship sale and purchase and registration and
mortgage requirements.
Our Marine
team is contactable 24/7 for urgent advice and assistance
following any maritime incident.