Legalseas

Legal and market updates from our maritime lawyers around the world

Our shipping law insights provide legal and market commentary, addressing the key questions and topics of interest to our clients operating in the shipping industry, helping them to effectively manage risk.

The knowledge of our global shipping lawyers encompasses every aspect of shipping law, including admiralty and marine-related matters. We provide the information charterers, marine insurance providers, ship financiers and shipowners need in order to navigate the changes and challenges facing the industry, including new environmental regulations and ship safety standards, the latest developments in shipping finance, and the move towards digitalization.

Recent insights

The EU ETS and Shipping: A bumpy ride ahead?

As we reported in April this year, the EU emissions trading scheme (the EU ETS) is expanding to include the shipping industry.

Global | Publication | October 18, 2023

Financing sustainability in shipping

Shipping plays a critical role in facilitating efficient global trade and underpins the international economy: it is estimated that over 80% of world trade is carried by sea.

Global | Publication | October 02, 2023

Oil Price Cap Risks: Evasion, enforcement, and the environment

There continues to be increasing rhetoric on the monitoring and enforcement of the G7 and Australia’s (“Coalition”) Price Caps on Russian crude oil and petroleum products (“Price Caps”).

Global | Publication | September 04, 2023

LISW23: Shipbuilding Contracts, Technological Innovation and Decarbonisation

For shipping to meet global decarbonisation objectives, new technology and alternative fuels will be critical. The recent boom in demand for newbuilding vessels has been driven partly by the need to move away from older vessels which will struggle to meet increasingly stringent decarbonisation targets.

London | Webinar | July 27, 2023

New regulation on the FuelEU Initiative adopted by the European Council following scrutiny

As we have reported previously , the EU’s ‘Fit for 55’ package presented on 14 July 2021 contained a basket of measures, including the FuelEU maritime initiative (the FuelEU Initiative), aimed at achieving the EU’s target to reduce the EU’s net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and put the EU on a path to be climate neutral by 2050.

Global | Publication | July 27, 2023

Eight things you need to know about the UK Emissions Trading Scheme

In March 2022, the UK ETS Authority (the UK ETS Authority) started a consultation process on how the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (the UK ETS) could be further developed. The UK ETS was implemented after the UK left the EU to replace the UK’s participation in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (the EU ETS).

Global | Publication | July 21, 2023

Shipping JOLCOs and environmental regulations: Update

In our previous publication in April 2023, we reported on the recent regulatory changes impacting shipping JOLCOs. As a result of those changes, a newbuild vessel to be owned through a silent partnership (tokumei kumiai or TK) structure may no longer be eligible for accelerated tax benefits (i.e. “special depreciation”) unless that vessel is certified as an "advanced vessel" complying with specific environmental and IT performance requirements, as more particularly set out in our original article.

Global | Publication | June 21, 2023

How watertight is your bill of lading?

What is the value of a bill of lading in the hands of a financier, after the financed cargo has been discharged by the shipowner without presentation of the bill?

Global | Publication | June 08, 2023

Women at sea: What you don’t see

Nina Varumo is a freelance portrait and documentary photographer based in Stockholm. A recent project of hers Kvinnor till sjöss (‘Women at sea’) is on ongoing photo series highlighting the working life of female seafarers in order to change the stereotypical image of what and who is a seafarer.

Global | Publication | May 16, 2023

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