Overview

Todays’ local and global shipping practice players expect from their lawyers to understand their businesses, sectorial – technical challenges and commercial needs rather than purely delivering legal advice or proposing unprofitable legal solutions. Shipping industry is an ever-changing business environment. Thus, shipping business actors are willing to work with a team that is capable of continually monitoring shipping and trading trends; delivering reliable – commercially focused – pragmatic advice; analysing strengths and weakness of the business; addressing sectorial risks and developing risk avoidance strategies as well as resolving shipping disputes rapidly and cost-effectively.

A&T maritime professionals have extensive depth of understanding and knowledge how the shipping sector operates, what commercial and regulatory requirements are, and where the easy solutions can be found across the entire shipping world. We provide tailor-made and commercially focused resolutions to business requirements and objectives of our clients in a broad range of legal disciplines and consultancy services.

Our shipping team has unparalleled academic, commercial and technical experience across the all aspects of marine industry. We are therefore able to instruct appropriate professionals wherever and whenever needed and ensure that our clients meet all essential legal, commercial and technical requirements in time. We have dedicated ourselves to taking all necessary precautions for our clients to avoid and/or mitigate sectorial risks so that they can solely focus on business interests.

We closely work with our clients throughout the whole period of operational and day-to-day shipping activities by delivering legal and technical support on all shipping businesses as one-stop solution partner. With our dedicated, global and solution oriented approach, we have dedicated ourselves to protecting shipping business interests of our clients as well as creating real value for their shipping business.

We mainly focus on our clients’ core shipping operations and assist them in dealing with legal and regulatory disputes anywhere in the world. We also concentrate on ensuring that our commercial and legal shipping services accurately meet the fundamental aspects of our clients’ local and global business interests. 

Our Clients
We advise and act for a broad range of shipping sector players across the entire breadth of the industry, including: banks and financial institutions, bunker suppliers, cargo owners and end-users, carriers and shipping companies, charterers, container shippers, cruise ship and ferry operators, freight forwarders, insurers/reinsurers, international ship agencies, lessors, LNG operators, marine insurance underwriters, oil and gas contractors, oil companies, P&I clubs, port and terminal operators, salvors, ship brokers and agents, ship builders, shipowners, shippers, shipyards, traders and trading houses, underwriters and warehouse operators – owners.  

What we do in Shipping
We cover all aspects of dry and wet shipping matters, including:

• Corporate structures and shareholdings of shipping companies 
• Distribution and agency agreements
• Environment and pollution 
• Guarantee and indemnification agreements 
• International emergency response 
• International tax planning and tonnage tax
• Offshore and LNG
• P&I Insurance 
• Re-organisations and restructuring of shipping companies 
• Risk management 
• Ship Finance – structured finance – portfolio financings – capital raising 
• Ship management, consortia and pooling agreements 
• Ship registration and flagging 
• Ship recycling 

Admiralty

• Collisions and groundings 
• Fires and Explosions
• General average
• Average guarantees & average bonds 
• Average adjustment calculations and reports
• Harbours and pilotage 
• Legal jurisdictional issues
• Limitation of liability
• Marine casualty response and investigation for charterers, cargo owners, insurers and shipowners 
• Pollution liabilities/offshore, environmental damage and clean up
• Personal injury
• Salvage – towage – wreck removal 
• Ship arrest and release
• Total loss claims 
• Unsafe berth and port disputes
• Unseaworthiness 

Bills of Lading

• Advising, drafting and negotiating for terms of bills of lading and booking notes
• Advising on documentary duties of bills of lading 
• Advising on inter-relationship with charterparties and/or letters of credit
• Bankers and commercial credits
• Delivery without presenting B/L
• Description of cargo
• Freight collect bills of lading
• Negotiability 
• Non-order bills of lading 
• Risk, property and frustration 
• Seawaybills, straight bills of lading, waybills, liner bills, oil bill, charterparty bills, and combined transport documents 
• Ship’s delivery orders 
• Shortage claims 
• Transferability of bills of lading
• Transfer of rights and liabilities 
• Transhipment bills of lading 

Cargo Claims

• Cargoes including bulk, reefer, containerised, liquid and projects 
• Cargo shortage
• Cargo delays and deviations 
• Cargoworthiness 
• Collection of documents 
• Contaminated cargoes 
• Dangerous goods 
• Deck cargo
• Engaging surveyors 
• Loading and unloading disputes 
• Mitigating cargo loss
• Pilferage 
• Shipment of cargoes
• Shortage 
• Water damage 

Charterparties

• Advising on and drafting standard charterparty clauses and rider clauses 
• Bunkering 
• Contracts of affreightment 
• Delivery and redelivery issues 
• Fixing charterparties
• Laytime and Demurrage – Dead freight – Detention issues 
• Long – short-term charterparty arrangements 
• Multiple voyage charters
• Negotiations in the interpretation of charterparty clauses 
• Oil charterparties 
• Payment failures of hire and/or freight – deduction of hires and withdrawal 
• Slot charters 
• Speed and performance claims 
• Unsafe port and berth claims
• Voyage – Time – Bareboat – Demise charterparties 

Marine Regulations

• CLC
• Collision regulations
• Hague – Hague Visby – Hamburg – Rotterdam Rules 
• MARPOL 
• Nairobi convention
• MLC
• SOLAS

Shipbuilding – Ship Conversion & Repair

• Advising on shipbuilding of every type of vessels including bulk, car, cargo, container, LNG, reefer, RO-RO, tanker, and tug 
• Drafting standard contract for shipbuilding
• Negotiating and reviewing contract terms 
• Participating in the negotiations between buyers and builders
• Performance and refund guarantees 
• Shipbuilders risk calculations 
• Shipyard connections 
• Warranty bonds and claims

Ship Sale & Purchase

• Advising on sale and purchase of every type of vessels including bulk, car, cargo, container, LNG, reefer, RO-RO, tanker, and tug 
• Advising on second-hand sale and purchase of vessels
• Drafting and negotiating for ship sale and purchase agreements 
• Joint venture agreements between shipping companies 
• Mergers and acquisition of shipping companies 
• Strategic partnership of shipping companies
• Ship & Yacht surveying 
• Ship & Yacht value assessments, price valuations