Global law firm Reed Smith advised CIMC Financial Leasing Shenzhen Qianhai in a landmark lease financing arrangement for six new container vessels in partnership with Arkas Group, Turkey’s largest container ship owner. This significant financing package includes six eco-design panamax container ships, each with a capacity of 4,300 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) constructed by CSSC Group’s Huangpu Wenchong Shipyard. With a valuation of $60 million per vessel, this transaction totals $360 million. Most of the funding will be bankrolled by CIMC Financial Leasing Shenzhen Qianhai through a carefully structured long-term financing ...

There is a certain mystique concerning ‘force majeure’ and similar clauses that seek to set out the circumstances under which a party to a contract may cease to perform its obligations. A recent English Supreme Court decision considered reliance on such a clause, adopting a literal interpretation of the words agreed between the parties. The Facts A shipowner and a charterer entered a contract for carriage of bauxite from Guinea to Ukraine on a monthly basis. The contract provided for payment of freight in US dollars. The contract defined force ...

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Société Générale as Mandated Lead Arranger and Agent, along with a syndicate of banks, in relation to two Green Loan Facilities for Cadeler A/S (Cadeler) totalling approximately €520 million for the financing of two state-of-the-art newbuild Wind Turbine Installation Vessels under construction in the Republic of Korea. The syndicate of banks also included Crédit Agricole CIB, CIC New York and Korea Development Bank. Cadeler is a global offshore wind farm construction, maintenance, and installation company, based in Denmark and listed on the ...

Incident: A Turkish-owned, Cameroon-flagged Ro-Ro vessel laden with Russian military KamAZ 6350 6×6 trucks departed from Novorossiysk, Russia, and sailed to Tobruk, Libya, via the port of Gemlik, Turkey. Still images of the vessel taken at Gemlik showed over 30 KamAZ trucks visible on its deck. The vessel passed through the Bosporus, Turkey, and sailed to Libya using a coastal route, remaining strictly in Turkish territorial waters. The vessel arrived in Tobruk on the 3rd of August. Russian military deliveries to eastern Libya have been increasing in recent months. In ...

Introduction The drafters of the international maritime law recognised early on that a conflict of interest can arise when a ship operating under a foreign flag sails in the waters of a coastal and port state, but the safety of the ship is to be ensured by the flag state (cf Article 94 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNLCOS)). This is because, due to the international nature of shipping, the danger of a ship is often realised less in the flag state (eg, Panama) and more ...

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised longstanding client Citi, as mandated lead arranger, co-ordinator and bookrunner, agent and security trustee, on a strategically important $500 million term and revolving credit facility for luxury travel and leisure company Abercrombie & Kent (A&K). The facility was put in place to assist A&K with the ongoing expansion of its established and market leading luxury travel business, as well as its newer luxury cruise business “Crystal”, with the existing Crystal vessels serving as collateral for the facilities. The Crystal brand is set ...

International commercial law firm Hill Dickinson has announced the appointment of Mark Johnson, joining the firm’s London office as a corporate commercial partner, bringing with him over 30 years of experience in the maritime and legal fields. The former naval officer and ship’s captain joins the firm’s commercial shipping team, further consolidating the relationship between Hill Dickinson’s Business Services and Marine groups. Johnson brings extensive experience advising on the construction, conversion, sale and purchase, recycling, financing, management, operation and ownership of all types of vessels, including FSRUs, drilling rigs, wind ...

In a landmark move on 27 December 2023 the Bermuda Government took a significant step by adopting the Corporate Income Tax Act 2023 (the “CIT Act”), a pivotal piece of legislation that promises to reshape the island’s financial landscape. The new legislation applies to Bermuda tax resident entities and Bermuda permanent establishments that are part of Multinational Enterprise Groups (“MNEs”). These groups are defined as those operating in multiple jurisdictions with consolidated revenues of at least €750 million in two out of the previous four fiscal years. The CIT Act ...

The industry is now well aware of the June 28, 2024 ruling by the US Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which the Court overruled the 40-year-old Chevron doctrine. Chevron served as a central doctrine of administrative law as it granted significant deference to US agencies’ interpretations of federal statutes, which they administer and enforce. The Chevron doctrine touches on the full reach of US federal regulations, and thus, any maritime stakeholder subject to such regulations could be impacted by the Supreme Court’s decision. Maritime stakeholders should ...

Global law firm Reed Smith has been named a recommended firm in the shipping industry category at China Business Law Journal’s China Business Law Awards 2024. This is the sixth consecutive year that the firm has received this accolade. The firm was also named, for the first time, a recommended firm for pro bono. Reed Smith is one of only a handful of law firms in Mainland China and Hong Kong to cover the full range of shipping work, from litigation (both dry and wet) to ship finance, advisory work ...

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) is strengthening its Middle East ship finance practice with the relocation of Assets & Structured Finance Partner Emily Widdrington from London to Dubai as of 1 August 2024. Emily has over 12 years’ experience advising and acting for banks and ship owners on loan and security documentation. Her experience ranges from advising on high-value ECA-backed financings to loan agreements involving sustainability-linked margin adjustments. Highlight matters she has led on include acting for MSC on the financing for two new LNG-powered cruise ships, a consortium of ...

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, Maersk Line Limited – one of the world’s largest marine cargo services providers – will change its safety reporting policies and compensate a seaman the company terminated after they reported safety concerns to the U.S. Coast Guard without first notifying their employer. The actions follow a three-day hearing in June 2024 where Maersk challenged the findings of a whistleblower investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration found the company violated the employee’s rights under the federal Seaman’s ...

Introduction On 21 November 2023 and following extensive consultation periods, the amendment to the Climate Delegated Act (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021) (the Climate Delegated Act) was formally adopted by the European Commission and published in the EU Official Journal (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2485 of 27 June 2023) (the Climate Delegated Act Amendment). The Climate Delegated Act Amendment, which came into effect at the start of 2024, includes amendments to the shipping technical screening criteria in the Climate Delegated Act and impacts which shipping activities can be ...

Greenwashing has become a prominent issue, especially with the EU Taxonomy’s possible extension to cover various segments of the transportation industry. While greenwashing is typically associated with the oil, gas, and finance sectors, the UK Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is now focusing on misleading advertisements across all industries, including shipping. Hurtigruten – the Norwegian expedition cruise company – released an advert saying that they were the “leaders in sustainable expeditions” and it was the use of the word “sustainable” that resulted in them falling foul of the ASA. What Hurtigruten ...

Introduction On 21 November 2023 and following extensive consultation periods, the amendment to the Climate Delegated Act (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021) (the Climate Delegated Act) was formally adopted by the European Commission and published in the EU Official Journal (Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2485 of 27 June 2023) (the Climate Delegated Act Amendment). The Climate Delegated Act Amendment, which came into effect at the start of 2024, includes amendments to the shipping technical screening criteria in the Climate Delegated Act and impacts which shipping activities can be ...