Recent legislative changes ratified by Malta streamline the process for arresting a vessels, write Dr Karl Grech Orr and Dr Matthew Attard.
Article appeared in Tanker Shipping & Trade, June-July 2011. See full article here.
Malta Maritime Law Association
Recent legislative changes ratified by Malta streamline the process for arresting a vessels, write Dr Karl Grech Orr and Dr Matthew Attard.
Article appeared in Tanker Shipping & Trade, June-July 2011. See full article here.
First appeared, Times of Malta, Sunday, May 15, 2011. Author: Alison Vassallo .
The carriage of passengers on board commercial vessels out of a high risk zone is not to be entered into blindly or without a clear awareness of the legal intricacies involved. Beneath the great humanitarian concerns underlying the evacuations from Libya over the past weeks lies a steadily turning commercial cogwheel that few may be aware of.
By April 25, 615,939 people had fled violence in Libya by road, sea or air. Numerous shipping companies reacted to the crisis by operating round-trip charters between Benghazi and war-torn Misurata and Crete and Malta, mainly at the request of governments in Europe, Latin America, and the Far East. The crisis poses tragic humanitarian and socio-political implications but it also presents organisations with the requisite resources and expertise with a commercial reality. Were it not for these operators, tens of thousands of people would still be stuck in a war zone and the humanitarian consequences would potentially be more severe.
Malta’s geographical positioning has attracted a number of people to the realm of chartering vessels for evacuation. From a shipping perspective, the carriage of passengers on board commercial vessels out of a high risk zone may present a delicate legal scenario. This operation is certainly not one to be entered into blindly or without a clear awareness of the legal intricacies involved. The reality is that there is no standard form contract which caters for the carriage of passengers in such a particular scenario.
In contracting a voyage charter party for the carriage of goods, the parties would, in the normal course of events, resort to the terms of standard form contracts, most notably Gencon 1994. These contracts do not, by their nature, contemplate the carriage of people. The charter of a vessel for the carriage of passengers as opposed to cargo for a trip or a series of trips is the subject of a number of standard form agreements formulated by the international shipping community, namely the Bimco Cruisevoy and the Mediterranean Yacht Brokers Association Charter Agreement.
However, these contracts fall short of addressing the specific circumstances faced in the evacuation of people: they contemplate the carriage of passengers on board leisure vessels such as cruise liners and superyachts. This leads to the necessity of formulating what would essentially be an ad hoc agreement between the owner and the charterer. One of the main considerations which must be addressed by the parties at a very initial stage in their negotiations relates to whether the voyage charter party will be a berth charter party or a port charter party. In the case of a berth charter party, the vessel would be considered an arrived ship, and therefore ready to take on passengers upon its arrival at a designated berth.
In such a case, laytime (the time allowed to the charterer to load and discharge passengers) which is included in the lump sum freight, would start to run only on the ship’s arrival at a particular berth. This would obviously disadvantage the owner since any time spent outside the berth due to the inability of the vessel to berth – especially in scenarios like the evacuation of passengers from a high risk zone – would be at the owner’s expense. Alternatively, the voyage charter party can be designated as a port charter party.
In this case the vessel is deemed to be an arrived ship as soon as she is considered as having arrived at the ‘port’ which could be the anchorage. As opposed to a berth charter party, this is to the owner’s advantage and to the charterer’s disadvantage. Laytime would start to run as soon as the vessel is deemed to have arrived at the port and not necessarily at the berth – ultimately irrespective of whether the passengers are being loaded or discharged from the vessel. Both the laytime allowed for the charterer to load and discharge passengers and the rate at which demurrage (the pre-agreed rate of liquidated damages) will be charged by the owner once the laytime is exceeded, are to be clearly expressed in the agreement.
These are just some of the important considerations which people who may be unfamiliar with in this sector would not even contemplate when entering into charter parties in emergency scenarios. It is crucial that specialised professional legal advice is sought before a contract is finalised. This can go a long way in preventing a hastily approached business venture which can turn to litigation once the immediate urgency has died down or, even worse, lead to complex legal wrangling during the actual running of the contract.
These negative effects increase in gravity in scenarios where the consequences of a failed contract may stretch beyond the legal and commercial and touch human lives.
Dr Vassallo is an associate within the Litigation department at Fenech and Fenech Advocates.
The rich knowledge of Malta’s shipping industry cannot be found anywhere else.
Article, Fairplay.co.uk ‘Looking beyond the Registry’ [09-05-11]
The role of the flag state is vital in the armed guards’ debate.
Matthew Attard of Ganado & Associates assesses the flag state’s responsibilities. See the full article in pdf in ‘Fairplay’ published 21 April, 2011.
First appeared: The Malta Independent Daily, Friday, 15 April 2011
The Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC) has for well over three decades played a prominent role in the advancement of maritime standards and environmental protection in the Mediterranean region.
This challenge is all the more real in the Mediterranean Sea, which has a high traffic density while also being a semi-enclosed sea and therefore far more vulnerable to the effects of pollution. REMPEC’s scope has evolved over the years in line with a growing public awareness of the responsibility we all share for protecting the seas through effective management of maritime and marine resources.
The centre has its roots in the establishment of the Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP) in 1975, following the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – Regional Seas Programme. MAP was the first such Action Plan to be implemented, and set out with the aim to assess and control marine pollution, to assist Mediterranean countries in formulating their national environment policies, to improve the ability of governments to identify better options for alternative patterns of development, and to optimise the choices for allocation of resources.
It was in 1976, within this MAP framework, that the Regional Oil Combating Centre (ROCC) for the Mediterranean Sea – REMPEC’s predecessor – was set up in Malta. ROCC was the first such regional centre in the world and, after 11 years of operation, its mandate was expanded to include “hazardous substances other than oil.”
In 1989, once the centre’s new objectives and functions were approved, it assumed its present name: Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Centre for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC). REMPEC, like ROCC before it, is administered by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), and operates on the basis of the decisions of the contracting parties to the Barcelona Convention which also provide its core funding.
In 2001, REMPEC’s objectives and functions were further modified, this time in view of the adoption of the new Protocol concerning Cooperation in Preventing Pollution from Ships and, in Cases of Emergency, Combating Pollution of the Mediterranean Sea (Prevention and Emergency Protocol).
This new protocol, which was adopted on 25 January 2002 in Malta and entered into force on 17 March 2004, sets the main principles of co-operation in dealing with threats to the marine environment, the coasts and related interests of the contracting parties posed by accidental releases or by accumulations of small, operational discharges, of oil or other harmful substances.
As a Regional Activity Centre of the Mediterranean Action Plan (UNEP/MAP), REMPEC assists the Mediterranean coastal states in ratifying, transposing, implementing and enforcing international maritime conventions related to the prevention of, preparedness for and response to marine pollution from ships.
In fulfilling these duties, REMPEC actively promotes regional co-operation and dialogue in the field of prevention of, preparedness for and response to pollution of the marine environment from ships, thereby establishing a platform for conducting co-ordinated actions at national, regional and global levels. These efforts tie in and are supported by REMPEC’s work towards providing a framework for the exchange of information on operational, technical, scientific, legal and financial matters.
In 2004, the European Commission (EC) approached the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) to develop a Euro-Mediterranean (Euromed) cooperation project on maritime safety and prevention of pollution from ships (SafeMed) within the framework of the Euromed Transport Forum. REMPEC was identified as the most appropriate regional institution for the implementation of the SafeMed Project considering its links with the IMO and the important role the centre plays in this field within the framework of UNEP’s MAP.
In view of the results of the first phase of the project which extended from 2006 to 2009, the EC has decided to entrust REMPEC with the second phase, SafeMed II, which will extend until the end of 2011. REMPEC has been hosted in Malta since its establishment in 1976.
In December 2007, however, the centre moved from its former offices in Manoel Island and began operating from offices situated at ‘Maritime House’, Lascaris Wharf, Valletta, which were made available and renovated by the Government of Malta. The ‘Maritime House’ building enjoys a prominent location in the Grand Harbour while also providing more modern office facilities.
Further info
Visit rempec.org for further information on the centre’s history as well as relevant information concerning REMPEC, its legal framework, its mandate, its activities, and detailed information resources pages providing documentation related to the activities implemented by the centre
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