Legal News

More than 500 people from seafaring communities around the coast of Malaysia's Sabah state have been evicted from their homes this week as part of a crackdown against undocumented migrants, local activists said.The Bajau Laut are a community of mostly stateless sea nomads, living offshore in wooden houseboats or huts built on stilts in the Semporna district of Sabah on Borneo island.Born without identification documents, most do not have access to basic facilities such as education, financial or health services.

Australia has banned a Cypriot-flagged bulk carrier from entering its ports after inspectors found the vessel to be unseaworthy.The vessel, Peace, is operated by Danaos Shipping, a company which also operates the containership Suez Canal, which was the subject of a prolonged detention by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) in January 2024.AMSA Acting Executive Director Operations Greg Witherall said Danaos Shipping’s failures with the Suez Canal gave the authority…

Turkish authorities seized 373 kilograms (822 lb) of cocaine shipped from Latin America and hidden in a container at the Turkish port of Gemlik, detaining nine suspects, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on Tuesday.The minister said on X that the operation against a criminal group trafficking drugs, "Operation Narco-Steel-20", was carried out in Istanbul and the northwestern city of Bursa.(Reuters - Reporting by Burcu Karakas; Editing by Daren Butler)

Ahmed Alkwrab thought his ordeal was over last June when he survived one of the deadliest shipwrecks ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea and finally set foot on European soil.Hours after a fishing trawler carrying hundreds of migrants capsized, however, the Egyptian housepainter found himself being interrogated by Greek authorities who then charged him and eight others with smuggling and causing the disaster.If convicted, he would have faced life imprisonment."When they sat me in a room by myself and shut me in, the fear began. What's wrong? What's happened?

The World Shipping Council (WSC) has applauded the recent adoption of amendments to SOLAS at MSC 108. Starting January 1, 2026, these amendments will require mandatory reporting of all containers lost at sea, setting a new standard for maritime safety and environmental protection.“The new regulations, specifically amending SOLAS Chapter V Regulations 31 and 32, mark a significant advancement in maritime safety and environmental protection. By ensuring prompt and detailed reporting of lost and drifting containers…

Luke M. Reid has joined Blank Rome as a partner in the firm’s Maritime group and as a member of the Transportation industry team in the Boston office. A former U.S. Coast Guard officer, Reid advises clients in connection with all aspects of international and domestic maritime regulatory compliance, as well as representing maritime clients in connection with government investigations, criminal and civil litigation, defense of maritime regulatory enforcement actions, environmental enforcement defense, and international law.

A retired U.S. Navy admiral and two business executives were arrested on criminal charges related to a bribery scheme involving a U.S. government contract.An indictment unsealed on May 31 alleges that from 2020 to 2022, Robert Burke—once the Navy’s second-highest-ranking officer—used his status to help the executives of New York-based workplace tech platform Next Jump win military contracts.Admiral Burke disputes the charge and plans to plead not guilt, Burke’s attorney told the media.From 2018 to 2019…

The impacts of Section 27 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, today commonly referred to as the Jones Act, are often debated in maritime circles. But the well-known U.S. law, which requires vessels that transport goods between U.S. ports to be American-built, -flagged, -owned and -crewed, hasn’t always been a hot button issue, according to Charlie Papavizas, author of a new book on the subject, Journey to the Jones Act: U.S. Merchant Marine Policy 1776-1920.A leading maritime attorney…

The operator of Japan's first domestically-built whaling mothership in more than seven decades said on Thursday it had no plans to send the whaler to the Antarctic Ocean, although the new vessel is capable of reaching the region.The 7.5 billion yen ($48 million) Kangei Maru, whose construction was completed less than two months ago, has a cruising range of 7,000 nautical miles."This ship is designed to be able to go to the Antarctic Ocean. But we won't be going to the Antarctic as long as we are engaged in commercial whaling…

Marine insurers and legal practitioners are grappling with unresolved challenges even two years after the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war. The conflict had brought chaos “not only in the lives of those in the region, but for the maritime industry trying to make sense of the shock,” said Burkhard Fischer, 2023-24 chairman of the Association of Average Adjusters, in his address to the body’s annual conference in London on May 9, 2024.Headlining his talk When War Risk becomes War Reality…

New Jersey officials said the state will receive $125 million from a legal settlement with Denmark's Orsted ORSTED.CO over the company's cancellation last year of two offshore wind farm projects.The New Jersey Board of Public Utilities said in a statement that the funds will be used for investments in wind component manufacturing facilities and wind farms.The settlement comes nearly seven months after Orsted said it would stop developing the Ocean Wind 1 and 2 projects off the coast of New Jersey as it struggled with soaring costs and supply chain delays.The cancellations triggered an angry re

Greek authorities confiscated more than 109 kg (240 pounds) of cocaine hidden in a container with frozen squid aboard a vessel inspected at the port of Piraeus, police sources said on Tuesday.The container was shipped from Peru and its destination was Croatia, one of the officials said.South American production of cocaine has surged over the past decade and Balkan traffickers have helped turn Europe into the world’s No. 1 cocaine market.Greece last week said it had dismantled an international criminal group trafficking cocaine in shipping containers from Latin America to Europe…

Validation of voyage emissions data and contractual arrangements for allocation of EU ETS costs remain key challenges for Greek shipowners as they face an estimated total €335 million bill this year, potentially rising to €1bn once the regulation is fully implemented, according to OceanScore.Some 2,135 vessels owned or operated by around 400 Greek shipping companies are presently racking up liabilities under the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) that will require them to surrender EU Allowances (EUAs) next year for GHG emissions incurred during 2024.Maritime data analytics firm OceanScore…

How to avoid and address potential prosecution following marine-incident deaths.In recent years, there has been a resurgence in criminal prosecutions of maritime personnel, vessel owners and operators and other individuals and corporations under the federal Seaman’s Manslaughter statute (18 U.S.C. § 1115). Recent examples of such prosecutions include the guilty verdict against Jerry Boylan, who was the captain of the Conception, a 75-foot passenger vessel that caught fire and burned to the waterline while anchored at Santa Cruz Island, Calif.

A global maritime court found on Tuesday that greenhouse gases constitute marine pollution, a major breakthrough for small island states threatened by the rise in sea levels caused by global warming.In its first climate-related judgment, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea said emissions from fossil fuels and other planet-warming gases that are absorbed by the oceans count as marine pollution.Its ruling - an "advisory opinion" that should nevertheless provide a precedent…

A new ban on exporting live animals came into law in the UK on May 20 as the Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Act received Royal Assent.The act capitalizes on post-Brexit freedoms to bolster the UK’s position as a world leader in animal welfare standards, said the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs.“The legislation delivers on a key manifesto commitment to ban the export of live animals including cattle, sheep, and pigs for slaughter and fattening from Great Britain.

Ann Waite has been elected to chair the Association of Average Adjusters for the year 2024-25. She is the first woman to hold the office in the history of the association, which was founded in 1869.At the annual general meeting of Fellows on May 8, 2024, Waite was also elected an Honorary Fellow of the Association, which she has served as secretary for 11 years.She succeeds Burkhard Fischer, a director of Albatross Adjusters, Limassol.Waite runs a London-based independent claims management company…

U.S. regulators are investigating potential unfair trade practices within pending Canadian regulations governing ballast water management systems of ships in the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes trade.The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) on Tuesday said it launched the probe to determine if the pending regulations have a disparate effect on U.S. flagged vessels and constitute a Foreign Shipping Practices violation under 46 U.S.C. Chapter 423.U.S.-based companies operating ships in the…

Hungary has detained the captain of a Swiss-based cruise ship involved in a collision with a small motor boat on the Danube River late on Saturday that killed two people, with five others still missing, police said on Monday.The accident was reported on Saturday night after a 35-year-old man was found with a bleeding head wound near a main road by the river near Veroce, 55 km (34 miles) north of the capital Budapest.The body of a man was recovered downstream south of Veroce, while a woman's body was found further downstream near a bridge on the northern outskirts of Budapest…

Implementation of the FuelEU Maritime regulation from 2025 presents an accountability dilemma for shipping as it is currently the Document of Compliance (DoC) holder that will be held responsible for fuel selection and could therefore face penalties - contrary to the ‘polluter pays’ principle, according to OceanScore.Shipping companies must start preparing now for the regulation as they face an August 31 deadline to submit a monitoring plan to track the fuel type and consumption for each EU voyage for each vessel as required by FuelEU…

Britain announced sanctions on Friday against three companies and one individual over what it called the "illicit ‘arms-for-oil’ trade" between Russia and North Korea.The announcement followed a decision by the United States to impose sanctions on two Russian individuals and three Russian companies for facilitating arms transfers between Russia and North Korea, including ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine."The sanctions highlight the joint malign efforts of Russia and the DPRK (North Korea) to circumvent (U.N.) sanctions on petroleum products…

The Animal Welfare (Livestock Exports) Bill had its third reading in UK Parliament on May 14 and now awaits Royal Assent to become law. The bill seeks to end the export of cattle, horses, sheep, goats and pigs for fattening and slaughter from and through England, Wales and Scotland.A speech made by UK King Charles on November 7, 2023, set out the government's agenda for the coming political year which included the bill.The legislation follows a 2020 consultation on ending live…

The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) will meet in person for its 108th session at IMO Headquarters in London from May 15 to 24, 2024. The Committee will address the urgent issue of maritime security in the Red Sea area. Since the hijacking of the MV Galaxy Leader in November 2023, which is still detained, there have been over 40 incidents where ships have been threatened or attacked in the Southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. These attacks have targeted seafarers, several of whom have been killed or suffered life-changing injuries.