1 Introduction

A central feature of the work of the Commercial Court for more than a century has been the determination of shipping disputes: disputes relating to charterparties and bills of lading, the carriage of goods and passengers by sea, collisions, salvage, and international trade. Such disputes often reflect problems which emerge as a result of novel situations and such situations arise because of the development of new methods of conducting business in the shipping industry, an industry which is global in its dimensions and which develops in line with new technologies.