International Maritime Law

Introduction

Around 80% of the volume of international trade is seaborne. Shipping is no doubt vital in facilitating global trade, both for food and energy supply. As the legal expertise in topics relevant to international shipping is in constant demand, this course aims at providing deeper understanding of the legal complexities surrounding maritime business in international context.

Part I focuses on public law aspects of international maritime law. It introduces the critical legal challenges caused by the global nature of shipping, the principle of navigational freedom, and the changing geopolitical landscape. It examines the role of International Maritime Organization (IMO) in regulating shipping, the current and future trends and needs in the context of increased digitalization and climate change risk, and the role of flag, coastal and port States in implementing the global standards to facilitate safe, secure and environmentally sound transport on seas and oceans worldwide.

Part II switches to the private law side. It examines charterparty contracts typically used in trade of energy commodities, such as oil, as well as ship sale and purchase agreements. This part discusses the critical legal issues related to breach of contract and distribution of risks and liabilities between the parties to a contract. Furthermore, the role of the relevant international associations (e.g., BIMCO) will be presented.

Part III centers around perils at sea, maritime casualties and pollution cases. It combines the public and private law aspects to explain typical legal issues when a vessel runs into a trouble at sea. Important principles of salvage and wreck removal are discussed in depth, and so is the shipowner’s liability and the IMO liability and compensation regime, including the role of the IOPC Fund.

Course content

This course is focused on global rules and standards.

In Part I, the primary objective is to analyze the relevant provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and a suite of international treaties and instruments adopted under the auspices of the IMO to set the scene for understanding the difference between international maritime law and law of the sea, but also their interplay. Law and policy papers are discussed to draw attention to current and future regulatory trends and challenges, such as within the area of increased use of autonomy in shipping and reduction of emissions to combat climate change. Special attention is given to addressing regulatory gaps, and challenges arising therefrom. Examples from practice are examined to illustrate the real-life problems (e.g., the use of “dark”/“parallel” fleet to circumvent the global sanctions on States) and plausible legal solutions to these.

As the course shifts towards private law in Part II, standard contracts and contractual clauses (e.g., BIMCO, Norwegian Sale Form) are analyzed to address the key legal issues related to distribution of risks and liabilities between the parties. Global trends in reducing GHG emissions and their inclusion and implications for the charterparties are also covered. In this respect, special contractual clauses are discussed.

Part III focuses on maritime casualties and “wet” claims and thus examines different rules under international treaties, such as Salvage Convention, Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law with respect to Collisions between Vessels, and IMO liability and compensation conventions, as well as different standard forms, such as LOF, SCOPIC, WRECKHIRE and WRECKSTAGE. In addition, this part discusses general principles and tradition of marine insurance and customary international law dilemma on places of refuge for ships.

Business ethics and sustainability issues are integrated into the course.