Maritime law
Contentious and non-contentious expertise for ship owners and
operators, P&I Clubs and marine insurers, yacht and cargo
interests, port operators and intermediaries, and dealing with
all maritime concerns including hull, protection and indemnity,
cargo and goods-in-transit.
Maritime law covers a vast range of issues
with one thing in common – their potential to impact on the
commercial performance of the organisations involved. With so many
different areas of concern, experienced legal advice based on a
thorough understanding of the shipping business and its associated
activities is an essential requirement.
Weightmans' Maritime Law team is truly expert
in this field, having a lengthy association with maritime affairs
and unmatched experience in handling the complexities of law in
both routine and non-routine circumstances.
Whatever category of business you represent,
with Weightmans you will benefit from the highest level of
expertise, founded on sound technical understanding of the issues
and informed by clear understanding of the commercial
implications.
For ship owners and operators, our expert
lawyers handle disputes under bills of lading, charter parties and
carriage agreements, claims for stevedore damage, demurrage, hire,
freight and other debts. We advise on all aspects of marine
insurance including protection and indemnity.
We advise on shipbuilding, repair and
conversion contracts and disputes, and deal with marine personal
injury investigations and claims.
In addition, we advise on hull and yacht
insurance market conditions and policy disputes. We also deal with
ship, superyacht and yacht casualties involving collisions,
groundings, salvage and pollution and related regulatory
inquiries.
Our services relating to cargo and
goods-in-transit include dealing with claims arising from the
movement of goods, including cargo recoveries and claims involving
ship casualties, salvage and general average.
We advise on liability, quantum and
jurisdiction claims and issues under the CMR Convention and
standard trading conditions. We regularly handle cases involving
multi-modal transport and carriage of goods by road and rail and
during warehousing and forwarding. We also advise on market cargo
conditions and policy disputes.
For port and terminal operators, ship
management and logistics companies, forwarding agents, other
intermediaries and their insurers, we offer a further array of
services. These include handling claims involving damage to
property or equipment, loss or delay in delivery of cargo,
responsibility for pollution and environmental damage, personal
injuries and regulatory advice.
In all areas, we provide effective enforcement
measures including ship arrests, liens, freezing orders and
emergency court procedures.
In non-contentious matters, we advise on and
draft user agreements, carriage and charter contracts and related
standard terms and conditions, ship sale and purchase and
registration and mortgage requirements.
"Its takeover of DLA Piper's highly rated marine
practice in Liverpool takes the firm into the top tier"
Legal 500 2006
