Privacy Policy

 

The Maritime Advocate respects your privacy and is committed to protecting your personal information.

This policy explains what information we collect, how we use it and the rights you have under UK data protection law.

1. Who we are

The Maritime Advocate is an independent maritime industry publication providing news, commentary and commercial information to professionals working across shipping, insurance, law, logistics and related sectors.

For data protection purposes, the data controller is:

The Maritime Advocate
Email: contactus@themaritimeadvocate.com
Address: C/O Wyatt Williams Ltd, April Cottage School Road, Nomansland, Wiltshire, SP5 2BY

2. Information we collect

We may collect and process:

  • your name, email address, company and job title where supplied;
  • newsletter subscription and unsubscribe information;
  • correspondence you send to us;
  • advertiser, sponsor and commercial contact information;
  • website usage information, including pages visited, browser/device information and approximate location;
  • newsletter engagement information, including delivery, opens and links clicked;
  • technical information such as IP addresses and server logs where necessary for security, analytics or operation of our services.

We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal information.

3. Newsletter subscribers

If you subscribe to The Maritime Advocate, we use your information to distribute the newsletter and manage your subscription.

We may also collect information about newsletter engagement, such as whether an issue was delivered or opened and which links were clicked. This helps us understand readership, improve the publication and provide advertisers with aggregated information about campaign performance.

Advertisers do not receive our subscriber mailing list or individual subscriber email addresses from this tracking.

You may unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe facility contained within the newsletter or by contacting us.

4. Website and analytics

We use website analytics to understand how The Maritime Advocate is being used, including which pages and content are most popular and how visitors arrive at the website.

This may include services such as Google Analytics.

We also measure clicks on advertiser links and banners. This may record information such as the advertisement clicked, newsletter issue or campaign and technical information associated with the request.

This information is used to:

  • measure website and newsletter performance;
  • understand readership and engagement;
  • improve our website and publication;
  • identify technical problems;
  • provide advertisers with campaign performance statistics.

Where possible, advertiser reporting is provided in aggregated form rather than identifying individual readers.

5. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website may use cookies and similar technologies for essential website functionality, security and statistical measurement.

Where consent is required by law, we will request it before using the relevant technology. Where an applicable statistical or other exemption under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations applies, we will provide appropriate information and a means of objecting where required.

You can also control or remove cookies through your browser settings.

6. How we use your information

We process personal information where necessary to:

  • provide and distribute The Maritime Advocate;
  • manage newsletter subscriptions;
  • respond to enquiries;
  • communicate with advertisers, contributors and business contacts;
  • administer advertising and sponsorship arrangements;
  • operate, secure and improve our website;
  • measure readership and advertising performance;
  • maintain appropriate business and financial records;
  • comply with legal obligations.

Depending on the circumstances, our lawful basis may be your consent, our legitimate interests, performance of a contract, or compliance with a legal obligation.

Where electronic marketing rules require consent, we will process information accordingly.

7. Who we share information with

We may use trusted service providers to operate The Maritime Advocate, including providers of:

  • website hosting and technical services;
  • newsletter distribution and mailing-list management;
  • website and campaign analytics;
  • email and communications services;
  • professional, accounting or legal services.

These organisations may process information on our behalf only where necessary to provide their services.

We may also disclose information where required by law or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights.

We do not sell our subscriber database to advertisers or other third parties.

8. International data transfers

Some technology and communications providers may process information outside the United Kingdom.

Where personal information is transferred internationally, we take appropriate steps to ensure that the transfer complies with UK data protection requirements, including the use of recognised adequacy arrangements or appropriate contractual safeguards where required.

9. How long we keep information

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose for which it was collected.

In particular:

  • newsletter subscription information is normally retained while your subscription remains active;
  • unsubscribe or suppression records may be retained so that we can respect your request not to receive further communications;
  • correspondence and business enquiries are retained only for as long as reasonably required;
  • commercial and accounting records may be retained where required for legal, tax or accounting purposes;
  • website and engagement information is retained according to the requirements and settings of the systems used to collect it.

Information that is no longer required is deleted, anonymised or securely archived as appropriate.

10. Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may have the right to:

  • request access to personal information we hold about you;
  • ask us to correct inaccurate information;
  • request deletion of your information;
  • restrict how your information is used;
  • object to certain processing, including direct marketing;
  • request transfer of your information where applicable;
  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, contact:

contactus@themaritimeadvocate.com

We may need to verify your identity before dealing with certain requests.

11. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we have handled your personal information, please contact us at:

contactus@themaritimeadvocate.com

We will investigate data protection complaints and respond in accordance with our obligations under UK data protection law.

You also have the right to raise a complaint with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s independent data protection regulator.

12. External websites and advertisers

The Maritime Advocate contains links to advertisers, contributors and other third-party websites.

Once you leave our website, those organisations are responsible for their own websites and privacy practices. We recommend reviewing their privacy policies where appropriate.

The inclusion of a link or advertisement does not mean that The Maritime Advocate controls how the third party processes personal information.

The Maritime Advocate cannot be held responsible for links that become outdated of missing. Given our archive spans decades, maintaining this is often not possible.

13. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technology or legal requirements.

The latest version will always be published on this website with the date of the most recent update.