Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised BPER Banca S.p.A. (“BPER”) on the up to US$8m+ financing to Augustea Navigation S.r.l. to refinance its acquisition of a bulk carrier built in 2010 under an Italian flag. BPER Banca S.p.A., formerly known as Banca Popolare dell’Emilia Romagna S.C., is a commercial and co-operative bank and the parent of the BPER Group, one of Italy’s leading banking groups. The group focuses primarily on small and medium enterprises with a strong international client base. Augustea Navigation S.r.l. is part of Augustea Group, leading player ...

Palladian is organizing in Athens, a WORLD SHIPPING LAW FORUM (WSLF)-Current Issues in Shipping Law, on Friday January 25th, 2019 at the Hotel NJV Athens Plaza. In the Forum, experts will discuss and debate current issues in shipping law. The event is designed to generate insight into current legal issues in this field and the law’s role in addressing future challenges and fostering future opportunities. The forum will provide important networking opportunities for all attendees and participants. FORUM TOPICS The topics selected are intended to explore the legal questions raised ...

Addleshaw Goddard has continued its investment drive in Asia with the hire of Ton van den Bosch, who joins the firm’s Singapore office as a partner in the Corporate team on 1 February 2019. Ton joins from Ince & Co where he was Of Counsel as well as heading its global Terminals & Maritime Infrastructure practice and its Energy and Projects team in South and Southeast Asia. His appointment demonstrates AG’s continued investment into its Asia practice, and follows the hires of Corporate Partner Lance Jiang and litigator Janie Wong ...

The award in London Arbitration 20/18 [(2018) 1012 LMLN 2] is a reminder on several often related matters, as it considers demurrage amid breach of charterparty, non payment of freight, tender of NOR and later valid exercise of lien. Facts On an amended GENCON 94 form Owners had first chartered the vessel to X, who were the buyers of the cargo of baled straw, for carriage from Varna to Izmir. However, both those contracts ended as X paid neither the freight nor the sale price, and owners re-fixed to alternative ...

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised CCB Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“CCBL”) on a US$132.8m sale and leaseback transaction of two tanker vessels (VLCC) acquired from and chartered back to two subsidiaries of Globe Shipholding S.A. (“Globe”), a group of companies maintaining a fleet of crude carrier tankers managed by Almi Tankers S.A.. CCBL’s transaction with Globe represents the first completed sale and leaseback of VLCCs in the Chinese leasing community. US$132.8m was drawn by Globe under the sale and eight-year capital lease back transaction which was put to ...

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Trinity Investment D.A.C. (“Trinity”) and Deutsche Bank AG, London branch (“Deutsche Bank”) as secured creditors/participants in the restructuring of Italian shipping company Gestioni Armatoriali (“Gestioni”) under Article 182-bis of the Italian bankruptcy law and the establishment of a new ownership and management structure to operate and employ ten vessels previously in the Gestioni fleet. The restructuring involved a reconfiguration of debt and mortgaged vessels between Gestioni’s secured creditors and the transfer of ten bulk carrier and tanker vessels to a new Malta-based ownership structure, ...

Insurance Mandatory coverage What maritime risks must be covered under the law and what is the mandatory level of coverage? Inland waters risks or any land risks which may be incidental to any sea voyage must be covered by an insurance policy. Insurable risks and ships What other risks are typically covered by marine insurance contracts concluded in your jurisdiction and what ships are insurable? All seaworthy ships are insurable. Even ships which are under construction, being launched or undergoing any adventure analogous to a marine adventure should be covered ...

Global, sector-focused law firm HFW has boosted its market-leading Admiralty & Crisis Management team with the hire of Victor Fenwick. Victor joins HFW’s London office from Ince & Co, where he was a partner and deputy head of the firm’s Admiralty Business Group. HFW’s global Admiralty & Crisis Management practice now has more than 35 specialist lawyers – including 27 partners and master mariners – with dedicated emergency response teams in London, Paris, Piraeus, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai and Australia. Andrew Chamberlain, Head of HFW’s Global Admiralty & Crisis ...

On 5/4/1440 H. (12/12/2018 G.) and pursuant to Royal Decree No. M/33, the Saudi Arabian legislator has enacted a new law titled ‘The Commercial Maritime Law’ (the “Commercial Maritime Law”). The Commercial Maritime Law consists of 391 articles. It will enter into force 180 days following its publication in the Official Gazette, which is anticipated to take place shortly. It will supersede the Second Chapter of the Commercial Court Law (issued pursuant to Royal Decree No. 32 dated 15/1/1350 H. (2/6/1931 G.)), the Law of Seaports, Harbors and Lighthouses enacted ...

Gordon Dadds Group PLC, the London-based legal and professional services group announces: Completion of the acquisition of the members’ interests in Ince & Co LLP (“Ince UK”) Unaudited results for the six months ended 30 September 2018 Trading in Gordon Dadds ordinary shares is expected to resume at 7:30 on Wednesday 2 January 2019 Ince acquisition Gordon Dadds has acquired control of the assets of Ince UK, a well-known and respected London-headquartered international law firm The legal practice of Ince UK is being merged with Gordon Dadds LLP to trade ...

The Court of Appeal has upheld the first instance judgment of Mr Justice Teare in respect of the apportionment of liability for a collision that occurred at the entrance to the narrow channel leading to the port of Jebel Ali, UAE. The Court was required to consider the applicability of the overriding requirements of good seamanship (rule 2), the crossing rule (rule 9) and the narrow channel rule (rule 15) of the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 (‘the Collision Regulations’). A summary of the Admiralty Court decision ...

The implementation date for the MARPOL Annex VI Regulation 14 sulphur cap is fast approaching. There are two key dates to keep firmly in mind: > On 1 January 2020, the limit for the sulphur content of fuel used on board a vessel operating outside one of the 4 Emission Control Areas (“ECA”) decreases from 3.5% mm to 0.5% mm. In addition, from this date vessels will be required to produce a bunker delivery note stating the sulphur content of any fuel oil stemmed, to carry an IAPP Certificate, to ...

BIMCO has last week released its two eagerly awaited standard clauses (the ‘2020 Marine Fuel Sulphur Content Clause for Time Charter Parties’ and the ‘2020 Fuel Transition Clause for Time Charter Parties’). Both are intended to address the International Maritime Organisation’s (“IMO”) revised sulphur content limits with regards the consumption and carriage of marine fuel (per Regulation 14 of Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973 as modified by the Protocol of 1978 “MARPOL”) which enter into force on 1 January and 1 ...

Palladian is organizing in Athens, a WORLD SHIPPING LAW FORUM (WSLF)-Current Issues in Shipping Law, on Friday January 25th, 2019 at the Hotel NJV Athens Plaza. In the Forum, experts will discuss and debate current issues in shipping law. The event is designed to generate insight into current legal issues in this field and the law’s role in addressing future challenges and fostering future opportunities. The forum will provide important networking opportunities for all attendees and participants. FORUM TOPICS The topics selected are intended to explore the legal questions raised ...

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Deutsche Bank AG, London Branch (“Deutsche Bank”), in relation to a US$180.5m term facility provided to Poseidon Containers Holdings LLC (“Poseidon”) to repay and extinguish a previous secured bank debt facility. The facility is secured on three new eco-design, wide-beam 9,115 TEU vessels, flagged under the Liberian flag, which are time chartered to top tier third-party charterers. Shortly after the completion of the financing, Poseidon and Global Ship Lease, Inc. (“GSL”) completed a stock-for-stock merger to create a company with an asset base of ...