Last week, the International Group of P & I Clubs published a recommended Inter-Club Agreement (ICA) incorporation clause. It is commonplace for charterparties to incorporate the ICA as a contract term.  For decades, ICA incorporation clauses have been considered relatively uncontroversial. However, the recent London Arbitration 18/18 decision has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons; the Tribunal found the effect of the ICA incorporation clause in that charterparty was to incorporate, or contractually apply, those parts of…

On 31 August 2018, the Supreme Court of Singapore and the Supreme People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) signed a memorandum of guidance (MOG) on the recognition and enforcement of money judgments in commercial cases.…

The following guest blog was written by William Egerton LVO, Cyber Advisor, Charles Taylor The amount of concern articulated about new technology in the recent survey conducted by Reed Smith is both welcome and revealing.  It is a healthy sign that respondents are concerned about cyber security and the impact of new technology on their business, whether for emissions control or other areas of improved performance.  But the rise of automation and the prospect of…

Last week, the Liberian flag state called for the IMO to issue a resolution or circular requiring early reporting of low-sulphur fuel availability by member states.  From the flag state’s point of view, littoral states should be doing more to assist shipowners and, by extension, time charterers in planning for compliance with the 1 January 2020 deadline for the global reduction of sulphur content (down to 0.5 per cent m/m) in marine fuels.…