Procedure guidelines in LMAA arbitrations

LMAA arbitrations are in danger of being overwhelmed by unnecessary interlocutory exchanges and applications. It is perhaps not appreciated by those handling arbitrations that some arbitrators receive between 40 and 60 faxes or letters a day. Some of them do not require a response, but they all have to be considered. That volume of interlocutory correspondence not only generates considerable costs for all concerned, but also demands so much time of the arbitrators that it is difficult for them to produce awards within acceptable delays (which is something that causes real concern to the LMAA and which the LMAA is anxious to improve).