Australia, Western Australia, Fremantle - Cargo Handling Facilities

Mike Phillips

Mike specialises in shipping, contentious ship finance and ship and offshore vessel construction. Mike’s clients include shipowners, traders, insurers, banks, funds and shipyards. With over 20 years’ of practice in the marine and international trade sector, Mike has a wealth of knowledge and experience which he brings to bear to help clients resolve their most complex and difficult problems. Representing some of the largest and most well-known companies in the marine and international trade sector, Mike is known as both an exceptional lawyer and a clever strategist. Equally at home in London arbitration or multi-jurisdictional Court proceedings, Mike has a strong record of success for clients in a wide range of matters from shipping and cargo claims, groundings and vessel fires through to complex multi-vessel finance enforcement. On the construction side, Mike represents shipyards and buyers on a range of construction projects from super-yachts through to complex offshore vessels and rigs. Mike regularly delivers training to industry professionals, on a bespoke basis for clients, and through the leading industry association, BIMCO. The Legal 500 2019 has called Mike “outstanding” and Chambers 2019 says that he is “confident, practical and good at reading his opponents’ minds”. Mike was shortlisted as Legal 500 Transport Lawyer of the Year in 2019. He was recognised as one of the Top 10 Maritime Lawyers of 2017 in Lloyd’s List Top 100 most influential people in the Shipping Industry and won the UK Client Choice Awards for Shipping & Transport in 2015.

Bangladesh, Chittagong - Development

USA, Louisiana, LOOP LA - Harbour

USA, Texas, Houston TX - Harbour

EU 180 Ship Recycling Seminar

The commercial and legal issues involved in selling ships for recycling are complex and far-reaching. The main concern is the safety of workers and the protection of the environment when ships are recycled, as well as ensuring that proper procedures are followed regarding worker rights and the further downstream management of hazardous and other wastes. The IMO Hong Kong Convention, which will enter into force in June 2025, and its accompanying guidelines, as well as the Basel Technical Guidelines on ship recycling, aim to ensure that ships are recycled in a safe and environmentally friendly manner. The HKC also requires that contracts between ship owners and recycling yards are in place before any recycling work is undertaken. Furthermore, certain legal requirements must be met in order for ships to be recycled, such as obtaining the necessary certificates and permits. Finally, the recycling process must be conducted in a manner that complies with international standards and conventions. Shipowners with ships flying the flag of an EU Member State face additional challenges of recycling those vessels in a manner that complies with regional legal requirements and environmental standards. This recycling can only occur at approved recycling facilities included in the EU list, leaving the shipowners with limited recycling options. As a result, those shipowners are facing additional difficulties, such as a ban on going to facilities in no-OECD States, even if any would be on the EU list, depending on the location of the ship when it becomes end of life. In an industry operating continuously at the global level, this creates major legal uncertainties and a serious distortion of competition between ships flying the flag of an EU Member State and other ships. Watch the BIMCO movie: “Ship recycling: Time for Change” https://www.bimco.org/trending-topics/recycling

New Zealand, Taranaki, Taranaki - Miscellaneous

The Glossary of Climate Change Definitions referenced on the new IMO-backed website

BIMCO's Glossary of Climate Change Definitions is now featured on the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) new website, developed for the “Future Fuels and Technology for Low- and Zero- Carbon Shipping Project'” The glossary, developed with BIMCO’s partners, provides clear, concise definitions of key climate change terms and concepts aiming to facilitate clear communication and informed decision-making in relation to shipping.

Douglas Shoemaker

Douglas Shoemaker is a Partner of BLANKROME Houston, and member of the Maritime Emergency Response Team (“MERT”). Douglas focuses his practice on complex maritime transactions and litigation. He has over 25 years’ experience advising clients on a wide range maritime law topics, including charter party negotiation and drafting, arbitration, vessel construction and flagging, purchase and sale, and mergers and acquisitions, personal injury, property damage, pollution, onboard investigations, navigational error, Jones Act, stevedoring accidents, cargo damage defense, and general average. He has particular experience in: • Negotiating and drafting complex maritime agreements, including vessel construction, purchase and sale; time, voyage and bareboat charter parties; towage; contracts of affreightment; bills of lading; master services agreements; general terms and conditions; indemnity and insurance provisions • Defending maritime personal injury and property damage cases in state and federal courts • Arbitrations before the Society of Maritime Arbitrators in New York, the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, the Houston Maritime Arbitrators Association, the American Arbitrators Association, and JAMS • Defending and prosecuting maritime seizure proceedings • Insurance defense and coverage • Domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, particularly concerning maritime assets and issues.

Underwater noise reduction in focus at IMO

As thousands of commercial ships traverse the open sea each day, they are a source of underwater radiated noise. Low-frequency ambient noise in oceans can have a devastating impact on fish and whale populations. At meetings at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) starting on 17 January, the aim is to agree on a mitigation plan for underwater radiated noise from commercial shipping.