1. Maritime Jurisdiction and Personal Injury Claims in England
2 .The World Shipping Council (WSC) Response to the ITF’s Report on Container Alliances
3. Surrender of Ship
4. StormGeo on Weather Data and Charterparty Disputes
5. Thoughts on Fraud
6. People and Places
FOB Network News
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Situation Vacant
WEST ATLANTIC MARINE LIMITED
Marine Surveyors, Consultants, General Marine Services & Project Management
DMG Marine Centre: #12 Shelley Street: P.O. Box F-41848: Freeport: Grand Bahama Island: Bahamas
(Tel) 242-352-8371: (Fax) 242-352-9014
wamco@batelnet.bs
Bahamian Surveying Firm in Freeport, Bahamas is seeking a competent professional individual to join its team as a Marine Surveyor.
SHORT TERM PLACEMENT (6 MONTHS) COMMISSION BASED)
Individual must possess, but not limited to the following:
” Mature Individual preferably between 35 and 60 years of age (physically and mentally fit)
” Possess an unlimited or unrestricted Certificate as Master
” At least 10 years’ sea-going experience (international)
” Internationally recognised degree or certificate in Marine Surveying, Masters Unlimited
” Knowledge of Cargo Surveys, Draft Survey, On/Off – Hire Surveys, Compass Adjustment, Stability Surveys.
” Familiarity with P & I Requirements, Marine Surveying Reports and Formats of other international maritime organisation reporting standards.
” Familiar with International Maritime Organisation codes and standards and procedures/ International Shipping regulations
” ISO Certified or similar Quality Standards certification
” Must have experience in performing surveys on commercial, pleasure and fishing vessels of various sizes
” Must be able to conduct Draft Surveys and Compass adjustments manually and electronically.
” Must have knowledge and inspection competency in various vessel types
” Must have experience performing the Caribbean Cargo Ship Safety Code inspections
” Marine Salvage and Tow experience a plus
” Broad knowledge of large variety of vessels and equipment
” Computer Literate (as will be responsible for producing reports and maintaining international clientele assignments)
” Communicate efficiently and effectively in English
” Self -Starter, managerial skills, with hands-on attitude.
W.A.M. COMPANY LIMITED is an international marine surveying and consultant firm based in the Bahamas. We invite you to visit our Face book Page: West Atlantic Marine Surveyors and Consultants. CARICOM Nationals welcome and encouraged to apply.
All Interested professionals please direct CV to the Recruitment Committee: Attn Chairman
W.A.M. COMPANY LIMITED
DMG MARINE CENTER
#12 SHELLEY STREET, QUEENS HIGHWAY
P.O. BOX F-41848 ~ FREEPORT, Grand Bahama ISLAND ~ BAHAMAS
(Tel) 242-352-8371/ 242-602-6675
W.A.M. COMPANY, LTD
MARINE MANAGEMENT, SURVEYORS, SERVICES & CONSULTANCY
Deadline for all Applications is November 30TH, 2018
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1. Maritime Jurisdiction and Personal Injury Claims in England
Tony McDonach, writing for the Hill Dickinson website, reports on a case testing maritime jurisdiction in England:-
Ship-owner defendants struck out a claim for personal injury sustained during the course of the claimant’s employment at sea, on board ships.
The claimant, Mr Stephen Meek, brought a claim for noise induced hearing loss which he alleged he had sustained during the course of his employment as a ship’s carpenter on ships owned by BP Shipping and Fyffes between 1974 and 1979. His solicitors issued proceedings in the County Court and served them on the defendants.
“This is a potentially important judgment. Claimant solicitors routinely commence proceedings against ship-owners in industrial disease claims in the County Court and often prevail over defendants’ objections on the basis that other defendants who employed the claimants are land-based. The County Court jurisdiction is invoked vis-a-vis these land-based defendants and thereafter the Admiralty defendants are effectively joined under Part 19 CPR as they are necessary parties in order to resolve all the matters in dispute in the proceedings. ”
“County Court judgments are not binding authority but nevertheless, this judgment provides a persuasive precedent that where this land-based ingredient is lacking, ship-owner defendants have good prospects of striking out erroneously commenced County Court claims.”
Red the note in full here:-
https://tinyurl.com/MaritimeJurisdiction
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2. The World Shipping Council (WSC) Response to the ITF’s Report on Container Alliances
Anne Marie Kappel, the Vice President of the World Shipping Council, one of the industry’s more effective trade bodies has taken a look at the recent ITF Report:-
Based on an initial review, the ITF paper is focused almost exclusively on the three large global alliances operating today. Most puzzling, the paper pairs an extensive discussion of the three largest east-west alliances with a policy recommendation that the European Commission’s consortia block exemption regulation be allowed to expire. The ITF’s combination of a focus on major alliances with a recommendation regarding the EU consortia block exemption regulation demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of how the consortia block exemption works. Specifically, because of various aspects of the major alliances, they are subject to self-assessment by their members to insure competition law compliance; the EU block exemption simply does not apply to these arrangements in most cases.
What the paper essentially ignores are the numerous vessel sharing arrangements (VSAs) that are not part of alliances and that provide regular, often unique, services to shippers. It is these VSAs for which the EU block exemption regulation provides increased legal certainty, reduced compliance costs, and greater ability to respond to market demands. The fact that the ITF paper calls for repeal of the EU consortia regulation based on a discussion of alliances that do not fall within that regulation, while the paper ignores the vessel sharing arrangements that do fall within the regulation, makes the work ill-suited to the task for which it was apparently designed.
The World Shipping Council and its industry partners will continue their dialogue with stakeholders and policymakers to seek regulatory solutions that both protect the competitive nature of the industry and also foster the greatest available efficiencies in an environment that requires the industry to simultaneously move an increasing volume of world trade and to reduce its air emissions.
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3. Surrender of Ship
Charles Holroyd of 7KBW reports on a ship repossession of an older stamp.
Charles Holroyd (instructed by Reed Smith LLP) acted for the Security Trustee under a Loan Agreement and successfully obtained an interim injunction requiring Fire Navigation Inc (“Owners”), owners of the m.t. “MEGACORE HONAMI” (“the Vessel”), to surrender possession of the vessel. [2018] EWHC 2790 (Comm)
The Security Trustee’s case was that the Owners had defaulted under the Loan Agreement. If that were correct, it would mean that the Security Trustee was entitled to possession of the Vessel under a ship mortgage and a General Assignment. However, Owners disputed that there had been a default. The Loan Agreement and the General Assignment were governed by English law.
The Security Trustee had been seeking to arrest the Vessel since January 2018, but the Vessel had been concealing its position and not trading, making arrest impossible. In August 2018, the Security Trustee attempted to exercise what it claimed was its right to take possession of the Vessel, but the Master and Owners refused to cede possession.
Following reports (the accuracy of which was later disputed) of the Vessel failing to comply with orders of the Singapore Navy and resisting boarding by Indonesian maritime police, Charles successfully applied on Saturday 22 September 2018 on behalf of the Security Trustee for an emergency interim injunction (against the Owners, managers and Master personally) requiring surrender of possession of the Vessel, now in Indonesia. The purpose of taking possession was so that the Security Trustee could procure the arrest of the Vessel and then her judicial sale pendente lite.
The Owners then applied at the return date to discharge the injunction, both on the merits and on the grounds of alleged non-disclosure and/or unclean hands. In particular, the Owners said that the reports which had prompted the emergency injunction application were inaccurate, that a fair presentation of their defences had not been made and that the Security Trustee had acted in an underhand or overly aggressive way.
Mr Justice Andrew Baker upheld the injunction. He said that he could not resolve the factual disputes as to what had or had not happened in relation to the Singapore Navy or the Indonesian police, but that even if the Security Trustee had been misinformed, this did not come anywhere near a successful complaint of unclean hands. He dismissed the complaints of underhand or overly aggressive behaviour and held that there had not been any breach of the duty of full and fair disclosure.
The case is interesting as a reminder of a seldom-used method of enforcement, which can be effective in circumstances where more usual methods (such as arrest) are not.
Please view the judgment here at the 7KBW website:-
https://7kbw.co.uk/mandatory-injunction-requiring-surrender-of-possession-of-an-oil-tanker/
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4. StormGeo on Weather Data and Charterparty Disputes
Weather Routing Experts SormGeo have sent us some thoughts on how to treat their kind of data. They write:-
Wording is everything when it comes to maritime disputes, especially those involving speed and fuel consumption. Anyone who works in this area knows that words like “about” mean different things to different people and can cause a lot of angst.
Understanding how the industry interprets clauses in commonly seen disputes can help charterers and owners better handle their commercial operations.
This month, we talked to Simon Milnes, a barrister at 20 Essex Street in London and Singapore, about how weather data from an independent provider can help parties avoid arbitration in speed and fuel consumption related claims.
Read the Article here:-
https://tinyurl.com/StormAdvice
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5. Thoughts on Fraud
Fraud Analyst Daniel Davies writing in his Crooked Timber blog gives a kind of social typology of how deeply fraud penetrates a commercial society. He is rather interesting on Greece:-
http://crookedtimber.org/2018/10/05/hoaxes-in-general/
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6. People and Places
Arbitrator and Mediator Jonathan Lux has launched a new website:-
https://www.lux-mediation.com/
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GEODIS has appointed Antje Lochmann as the new Managing Director of GEODIS Freight Forwarding Germany. Beginning November 1, 2018, she will head up the German freight forwarding business for GEODIS headquartered in Hamburg.
Antje Lochmann joined GEODIS in 2011 and has held several positions where she was responsible for sales, marketing, key accounts, tender management, and sales controlling. Most recently, she was the Director National Sales & Marketing of GEODIS Freight Forwarding Germany. During her time at GEODIS, she has worked on many national and international projects and has established a good network.
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Jack Buono has been appointed as the new superintendent for the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy. Buono will take command at the Academy on November 9, having most recently served as President and CEO of ExxonMobil’s subsidiary, SeaRiver Maritime, Inc.
“As a Kings Point graduate who spent his entire career in maritime leadership roles, Mr. Buono will help educate and inspire the next generation of maritime cadets,”says Maritime Administrator Mark H. Buzby.
Following his graduation from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, Buono worked his way up from a U.S. Coast Guard licensed Third Mate to an unlimited Master Mariner with ExxonMobil Corporation. In 1991, he transferred ashore and, after rising through several management positions, was elected to President & CEO of SeaRiver Maritime, Inc., where he served until his retirement in 2016 after 38 years with ExxonMobil Corporation and SeaRiver Maritime, Inc.
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Maritime UK has appointed Harry Theochari, Global Head of Transport at law firm Norton Rose Fulbright, as its new Chair, and Sarah Kenny, CEO at BMT Global, as Vice Chair. Both will start their two-year terms on December 1.
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FONASBA has elected Aziz Mantrach, Partner and General Managing Director of Transports Marocaines S.A. of
Casablanca, President of the Moroccan association APRAM and previously the Federation’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East, as FONASBA’s 28th President. Mr. Mantrach has been in the ship broking and agency sector for more than 40 years.
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The Avo Archive
The website of this newsletter contains all the editorial material since the inception of the Maritime Advocate as a print based quarterly in 1997 under the founding aegis of John Guy, Chris Hewer and Manfred Arnold. Readers can go to the site and search the database on the home page in its entirety. If you are looking for an old case, an old controversy or you would just like to see how many times you and your firm have featured in our annals feel free to access the archive. It is like this e-zine, free to Readers and we always appreciate the support of advertisers and sponsors.
Work is underway to lodge the Archive within a new site for this publication.
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Fear
As a sergeant in a parachute regiment I took part in several night time exercises.
Once, I was seated next to a Lieutenant fresh from Jump School. He was quiet sad looked a bit pale so I struck up a conversation.
“Scared, Lieutenant?”, I asked.
He replied, “No, just a bit apprehensive.”
I asked, “What’s the difference?”
He replied, “That means I’m scared with a university education.”
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Reluctant Global Citizen Charts the De-Civilising Process
Economist columnist Adrian Wooldridge laments the collapse of manners in an indignant blast mainly noting how modern transport seems to bring out the worst in his fellow travellers. Really good invective:-
https://www.1843magazine.com/and-finally/reluctant-global-citizen/the-decivilising-process
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Thanks for Reading the Maritime Advocate online
Maritime Advocate Online is a weekly digest of news and views on the maritime industries, with particular reference to legal issues and dispute resolution. It is published to over 21 000 individual subscribers each week and republished within firms and organisations all over the maritime world. It is the largest publication of its kind. We estimate it goes to around 60 000 Readers in over 120 countries.
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