Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Bank of Communications Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“BOCOM Leasing”) on a leasing transaction for three liquified natural gas carriers. Upon delivery, the vessels will be bareboat chartered to a disponent-owner and sub-chartered to a Middle East charterer on a long-term basis. Unlike conventional sale and leaseback transactions where the lessors enter into Memorandum of Agreements (“MOAs”) with the lessees and take delivery of the vessels pursuant to the MOAs, BOCOM Leasing entered into the shipbuilding contracts with the Korean and Chinese shipyards and will ...

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) and a pool of international financial institutions on the signing of a strategic partnership with Tanger Med, the leading industrial port complex in the Mediterranean, to expand the truck and passenger terminal. The project represents a total investment of €400 million. IFC’s €197 million investment will be the first sustainability-linked loan in Morocco and among the first in the port sector in emerging markets globally. A pool of international lenders, led ...

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised CMB Financial Leasing Co., Ltd. (“CMBFL”) on the US$1.1bn sale and leaseback of five 200,000m3 LNG carriers with Pure Energy Limited (“Pure Energy”), which includes pre-delivery and post-delivery financing arrangements on vessels which are to be employed on a long term basis with multiple reputable market leading chartering groups. Founded in 2008, Shanghai-based CMBFL provides financial leasing solutions to large, medium and small businesses across China. It is a subsidiary of China Merchants Bank, the first joint stock-holding commercial bank owned by corporate legal ...

The system of verifying the weight of shipping containers that came into force in July 2016 has recently come under scrutiny in the English Commercial Court. The regulations made pursuant to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea require carriers to ascertain the verified gross mass (“VGM”) of each container and this information will be used in developing the ship’s stowage plan. In Stournaras Stylianos Monoprosopi Epe v Maersk A/S [2024] EWHC 2494 (Comm), there was a significant discrepancy between the VGMs and the shipper declared weights ...

In this case, which concerned a misdelivery of cargo claim, the Supreme Court has affirmed a line of developing authority on an important issue for such claims – that the one-year time bar in the Hague Visby Rules (and the Hague Rules) applies to claims for misdelivery. This decision is of broad relevance in the shipping trade, as the Hague Visby Rules (and Hague Rules) are commonly contractually incorporated into bills of lading, charterparties and other contracts of affreightment, whether through standard form contracts or clauses or otherwise. The Rules ...

On November 13, 2024, the Supreme Court of the UK delivered its judgment in The Giant Ace, FIMBank PLC v. KCH Shipping, [2024] UKSC 38: the one-year time bar for claims under the Hague Rules or Hague–Visby Rules (the Rules) applies to claims for misdelivery, even if the misdelivery happens after discharge. This decision is of interest to traders whose cargoes are discharged without presentation of bills of lading, trade finance banks who rely on bills of lading as security, as well as shipowners and charterers. The Supreme Court confirmed ...

The Supreme Court handed down judgment in the ‘Giant Ace’, FIMbank PLC v KCH Shipping [2024] UKSC 38, ruling that the one-year time bar applies to all misdelivery claims where the Hague or Hague Visby Rules apply, even where cargo goes missing after discharge. In this case, the bank, as the holder of the bills of lading, argued it had six years to bring a claim against the carrier, after the cargo of coal went missing from stockpiles after discharge. The carrier relied on the one-year time bar in the ...

Yesterday, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) issued an OFAC Compliance Communiqué: Sanctions Compliance Guidance for the Maritime Shipping Industry designed to aid maritime sector stakeholders in (1) identifying certain new or common fact patterns that may be indicative of sanctions evasion, (2) addressing common counterparty due diligence issues, and (3) implementing best practices to promote sanctions compliance. As the maritime industry continues its upward growth trend and becomes more heavily focused on automation and emerging technologies, maritime stakeholders should be keenly aware of ...

Gremex Shipping S.A. de C.V., a Mexican corporation that managed several ships, including the M/V Suhar, pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal district court in Pensacola, Florida, for creating and providing false records to the U.S. Coast Guard to conceal its illegal discharge of oily bilge waste into the ocean, which is a felony violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS). The charge stems from a Coast Guard investigation of the ship once it arrived in Pensacola on Aug. 25, 2023. The Suhar is a ...

Maritime Regulations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has a robust legal framework governing its maritime industry, which is codified in the Commercial Maritime Law. This law, issued by Royal Decree No. M/33 in 2018, provides a comprehensive set of regulations and definitions relevant to the country’s commercial maritime operations. One of the key aspects covered by the Commercial Maritime Law is ship registration and the role of the flag state. According to the law, a “Vessel” is defined as “Any floating craft normally designed ...

An arbitration dispute highlighted in the latest Claims Review by International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) has concluded with a shipbroker settling a $380,000 claim. Accused of breach of contract and negligence for not disclosing critical navigation restrictions to charterers, the case underscores the paramount importance of transparent communication and due diligence in the shipbroking industry. The incident began when a shipbroker arranged a charter party (CP) agreement between shipowners and charterers. While the main terms were settled, the shipowners informed the broker that the ship’s official certificate would be provided ...

European shipping and ships calling at EU ports became subject to the EU ETS in January 2024. Whilst much about the administration and operation of the scheme has become clearer in recent months, some elements of the EU ETS and its application to chartering, management arrangements and vessel operations have been more difficult to navigate due to limited guidance from the EU and Member States and the many variations of ship ownership structures, management and operation that are seen in the industry. Who will be responsible for compliance with the ...

Slaughter and May is advising Ocean Wilsons Holdings Limited on the sale of its 56.47% interest in Wilson Sons S.A. to SAS Shipping Agencies Services Sàrl, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company SA, for total cash consideration of R$4.352 billion (US$768 million). Ocean Wilsons is a Bermuda investment holding company listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Bermuda Stock Exchange. Wilson Sons, a 56.47% owned subsidiary of Ocean Wilsons, is listed on the BOVESPA stock exchange in Brazil and is one of the largest providers of ...

Watson Farley & Williams is pleased to announce the publication of the third edition of The Law of Ship Mortgages, written by Partner Charles Buss, recently retired Partner David Osborne and Knowledge Counsel Joanne Champkins. Described as the definitive text on English ship finance law, the first edition was published in 2001 and has been well received ever since. This third edition was written with the ever-increasing sanctions and their impact on shipping and ship finance in mind, as well as the continued regulation around emissions. It includes new chapters ...

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised ABN AMRO and National Australia Bank on their arrangement of acquisition financing for Celsius Shipping (Celsius) and Basalt Infrastructure Partners (Basalt) to acquire two LNG carriers. Celsius and Basalt formed a new joint venture for the acquisition of the two state-of-the-art vessels – the Celsius Copenhagen and Celsius Carolina – which were built in Korea and operate using the latest, most fuel-efficient propulsion technology. The vessels are being managed and operated by Celsius, and are the first vessels for Basalt’s new Vanadis ...