The contractual architecture of the “Blue Visby Solution”

Decarbonisation of maritime trade is now a firm priority for the shipping industry. Exciting new technologies are a welcome development. But one of the obstacles to progress is the contractual architecture of maritime trade, with current contract structures promoting the high-emission practice of “Sail Fast, Then Wait”. This article explains how the “Blue Visby Solution” repurposes familiar contractual concepts to work alongside technology to tackle “Sail Fast, Then Wait”. The authors of this article, Haris Zografakis, Jolien Kruit, Gordon Nardell QC and Emile Yusupoff, are members of the legal team developing the contractual side of the project.

The decarbonisation context