Lloyd's Shipping & Trade Law

Admiralty – Action in rem – Consecutive arrests – Arresting party having no valid claim in rem – Arresting party seeking reimbursement of costs of arrest – Wrongful arrestor to bear legal and financial consequences of its action

Right to arrest vessel – Nature of services rendered to vessel

Ship sale – Interpretation of NSF 1993

Air pollution from ships – Maximum fuel sulphur content – Passenger ships operating regular services – Cruise ships – Directive 1999/32/EC – MARPOL Convention 73/78 and 1997 Protocol

The Hong Kong case Swiss Singapore Overseas Enterprises Pte Ltd v China CITIC Bank Corporation Ltd [2013] HKCFI 1291; [2014] 1 HKC 96, issued on 14 August 2013 and reported recently, concerned a claim under a documentary credit, raising issues of notice of refusal under the UCP600, preclusion, variation and estoppel.

Sale of goods – Contract formation – “Firm offer” – Email responding “good news”

Admiralty practice – Application for judgment in default – Failure to acknowledge service – Application to set aside – Jurisdiction in rem

The Law Commission has produced its first concrete proposals on business insurance contract law in the form of a consultation on a partial draft Bill. The Bill is a mixed bag of early sketches and satisfying solutions and almost the only thing that can be said with certainty is that it is incomplete. The proposals also cover marine insurance and indeed significant modifications are made to the Marine Insurance Act 1906. The consultation closed on 21 February 2014.