Maritime & Commercial

What happens when title stays with the seller - but the cargo is already at sea?

By Alina Butrim, Maritime Legal Researcher

In this new article Alina Butrim examines why retention of title clauses only offer real protection if the seller can still act on the goods after buyer default. In today's fast-moving international trade, dispatching cargo early is often unavoidable - but if the seller cannot recover possession or redirect the shipment, retaining title may offer little more than an empty right.

https://www.i-law.com/ilaw/doc/view.htm?id=452982

The Law of Tug and Tow and Offshore Contracts has established itself as a leading text and is written by Simon Rainey KC, one of the foremost shipping practitioners with unrivalled experience in the field. It is the only modern work on the law of towage and offshore vessel services, providing a comprehensive and extensively researched account of the general law coupled with a detailed clause-by-clause commentary and analysis of all the major standard contracts used in the international offshore, towage and heavylift sectors.

As technology continues to reshape global industries, the maritime sector faces profound changes with the emergence of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS). This book explores the legal challenges posed by autonomous shipping within the framework of voyage charters, focusing on the key contractual obligations of seaworthiness, care for cargo, and deviation. Traditionally, these obligations have assumed the presence of a human crew. Autonomous vessels challenge these established legal norms, requiring a re-evaluation of how liability is determined and shared between shipowners and charterers.

Written by Dr Raphael Esu.

Off-hire in Merchant Shipping: Law and Practice offers readers a comprehensive understanding of off-hire clauses, their legal and practical implications, and how they function to balance the interests of shipowners and charterers in maritime shipping. This first edition provides insights into the mechanisms used to allocate losses resulting from delays and the contractual provisions governing these situations. 

Written by Xiankai Zhan and Dr Pengfei Zhang.

Cargo claims are the most frequent form of third-party liability incurred by carriers by sea and their P&I insurers. They are the bread-and-butter work of ship operators and P&I clubs, with each club handling thousands of cargo claims every year. This new book examines every aspect of cargo claims from a legal and practical perspective.

Following the life of a typical cargo claim, the book analyses the basis upon which carriers face liability for cargo loss and damage; the law on delay and deviation; cargo interests’ responsibilities for the cargo they ship; defences to cargo claims; the role of cargo insurers and subrogation; P&I cover for cargo claims; and the recovery options available to a carrier facing a cargo liability. Cargo Claims also includes a detailed clause-by-clause commentary on the InterClub Agreement.

Written by David Richard

By Rory Butler, Partner, and Miranda Stock, Associate, HFW

When two or more parties are in a dispute as to who is entitled to a cargo under a bill of lading, the carrier often finds itself caught in the middle, exposed to a potential misdelivery claim should it deliver to one party over another. English law has long recognised that carriers should not be forced to referee underlying sales disputes, but what should a carrier do when rival claims are made?

https://www.i-law.com/ilaw/doc/view.htm?id=452879

Lloyd’s Law Reports is the unrivalled source of authoritative content, edited by Professor Robert Merkin KC and Dr Johanna Hjalmarsson, both experts in the maritime and commercial sector. Legal professionals around the globe regard Lloyd’s Law Reports as the leader in providing them with the latest case law and approved judgments.

Access Lloyd's Law Reports on i-law.com for the full archive of carefully selected, fully headnoted judgments.

From vessel arrest to reinsurance - 2025 tested maritime law across every front.

Dr Johanna Hjalmarsson, Dr Meixian Song and Xiaofei Yue deliver authoritative analysis of the rulings that mattered most - across shipping contracts, marine insurance, admiralty and ship finance - in one comprehensive review.

Access this in-depth review here

Acclaimed as the standard reference work on the law relating to time charters, the new 8th edition provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject, accessible and useful both to shipping lawyers and to shipowners, charterers, P&I Clubs and other insurers. Time Charters provides full coverage of both English and US law, now updated with all the important decisions since the previous edition.

Providing a clause-by-clause analysis commentary on all the provisions of the BIMCO BARECON, and all decisions relevant to those clauses, Bareboat Charters addresses important topics such as termination, repossession and damages from an English law standpoint, adding useful guidance for practitioners. It considers general issues of contract and/or maritime law so far as they relate to bareboat charters, and extracts or summarises key passages of important case law.

Admiralty Jurisdiction and Practice is the definitive work on litigation in the Admiralty Court. It provides unrivalled commentary and analysis of admiralty law as well as the jurisdiction and procedure of the Admiralty Court.

Now in its sixth edition, it has been fully updated to include new case law and important changes in practice and procedure since 2017. It covers the implications of Brexit as well as changes to CPR Part 61 and its accompanying Practice Direction in particular in relation to limitation claims and the new rules for pleading collision claims.

The latest award summary included in Lloyd's Maritime Law Newsletter is Singapore Arbitration 2/26. This important award clarifies the test for repudiatory breach and confirms that the risk of delays under an intervening charterparty falls on the shipowner. It also confirms that the Monroe Obligation applies even where no ETA or ERTL has been provided. Published with thanks to the SCMA.

Charterparty - Laycan - Inability of vessel to arrive within laycan - Breach of charterparty - Damages

https://www.i-law.com/ilaw/doc/view.htm?id=452900

Shipping has always known how to deal with visible risk. A machinery failure can be investigated; a regulatory breach can be corrected; a cyber incident can be contained; a damaged vessel can be repaired and even complex operational problems usually leave evidence, data and a trail of decisions that can be reviewed. The more serious danger today is less obvious. It sits beneath the surface of many organisations, shaping decisions long before those decisions become visible in performance, safety, reputation or financial results. It is the risk created when leaders do not see what they need to see, do not question what they should question and do not recognise how quickly the world around them has changed.

Irene Rosberg, of Blue MBA and of The Blue Board Leadership Programme at The Copenhagen Business School, argues that leaders across the marine sector need to step up if they do not want to fail their companies and people.

The latest issue of Maritime Risk International is available here.

By Prokopios Krikris FCIArb, consultant and arbitrator
 

Speed and performance disputes under time charterparties have long been a recurring feature of maritime arbitration. This article, the latest in a series of insightful articles on speed and performance claims, examines several issues that commonly arise alongside allegations of underperformance. In doing so, it explores the origins and development of such disputes through the lens of both London and New York arbitration awards, as well as relevant engineering and naval architectural literature.

https://www.i-law.com/ilaw/doc/view.htm?id=452565

The Strait of Hormuz crisis is creating novel insurance risks that practitioners need to address carefully. While the debate over the legality of the various state actions will take years to unwind, oil and fertiliser need to flow in the meantime, and insurers need to price the risk of voyage through the Strait now.

Professor Matthew Taylor Raffety, University of Redlands, examines the US International Development Finance Corporation's US$40 billion sovereign backstop, to keep commerce moving through the Strait while the underlying legal and diplomatic disputes remain unresolved.

The whole issue is now available to view here.

New London Arbitration content is now available in Lloyd's Maritime Law Newsletter, with thanks to the LMAA. 

The latest award summary is London Arbitration 8/26. 

Voyage charter - Gencon 1994 form - Loading ammonium nitrate in Sea of Azov - Russian authorities refusing permission to proceed into Kerch Strait - Charterers ordering the vessel to return to load port for discharge - Owners claiming damages for detention and additional expenses - War Risks ("Voywar 1993") clause - Whether charterers in breach by loading a dangerous cargo, nominating an unsafe port, failing to prepare cargo documentation required to enable the vessel to pass the Strait, failing to take action to obtain permission, and failing promptly to nominate an alternative safe port - Whether the authorities' action was arbitrary and unforeseeable and frustrated the charter.

Read the latest issue of LMLN here.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence is the only publisher of the English language edition of Chinese Maritime and Commercial Law Reports. We are pleased to announce the publication of Volume 1 2026 on i-law.com.