Maritime Law and Compliance Training Course

Participants can determine likely jurisdiction, applicable law and dispute forum for maritime matters.

• Flag, port, coastal, and nationality jurisdiction over maritime conduct
• Jurisdiction clauses in charterparties, bills of lading, and supply contracts
• Rome I and Rome II choice-of-law principles for cross-border claims
• Forum non conveniens arguments and parallel proceedings risks
• Arrest jurisdictions and security requirements for maritime claims
• Building a jurisdiction map for a multi-state voyage dispute

Participants can assess vessel-status documents and flag-state compliance responsibilities.

• Ship registration, nationality, and evidence of title requirements
• Flag-state duties under UNCLOS Article 94 and IMO instruments
• Classification societies, statutory certification, and delegated inspection authority
• Bareboat registration arrangements and dual-registration legal issues
• Continuous synopsis records and mandatory vessel document control
• Checking registry, class, certification, and beneficial ownership records

Participants can translate core vessel safety, security and labour rules into operational controls.

• SOLAS certification duties and safety-equipment compliance responsibilities
• ISM Code safety-management objectives, audits, and non-conformity closure
• ISPS Code security levels, declarations, and port-facility interfaces
• STCW certification, watchkeeping, fatigue, and competency requirements
• Maritime Labour Convention employment, repatriation, and welfare protections
• Assigning control owners for shipboard and shore-based compliance

Participants can identify environmental duties and initial liability exposure arising from vessel operations.

• MARPOL Annexes I through VI operational compliance requirements
• Oil record books, garbage records, and emissions documentation
• Ballast Water Management Convention treatment and recordkeeping duties
• Civil Liability Convention limits, compulsory insurance, and direct action
• Bunkers Convention liability for persistent and non-persistent oil pollution
• Preparing pollution notifications, evidence logs, and regulator communications

Participants can prepare for port-state inspections and respond appropriately to detention findings.

• Port State Control inspection grounds under IMO procedures
• Paris and Tokyo Memoranda inspection targeting and deficiency coding
• Detainable deficiencies, corrective action, and release conditions
• Responding to inspection reports without prejudicing legal positions
• Administrative penalties, appeal routes, and documentary evidence requirements
• Creating a port-call compliance checklist and escalation matrix

Participants can identify the applicable cargo-carriage regime and its principal liabilities.

• Hague, Hague-Visby, Hamburg, and Rotterdam Rules compared
• Carrier duties of seaworthiness, care, and proper cargo delivery
• Package limitation, unit definition, and limitation-breaking conduct
• Defences for nautical fault, fire, inherent vice, and perils
• Time bars, notice requirements, and burden-of-proof allocation
• Selecting the governing regime from bill-of-lading facts

Participants can review transport documents for title, delivery and misdelivery risk.

• Bill of lading functions: receipt, evidence, and document of title
• Straight bills, order bills, bearer bills, and sea waybills
• Incorporation clauses linking bills of lading to charterparties
• Letters of indemnity for delivery without original bills
• Electronic transferable records under the MLETR legal framework
• Reviewing documentary instructions before cargo release or financing

Participants can analyse charterparty structures and identify commercially material legal exposures.

• Voyage, time, bareboat, and contract-of-affreightment structures
• BIMCO forms, rider clauses, and contractual hierarchy rules
• Safe port warranties and due diligence obligations
• Laytime, demurrage, despatch, and time-bar mechanisms
• Off-hire clauses, withdrawal rights, and performance claims
• Producing a charterparty risk register from key clauses

Participants can apply legal controls to cargo acceptance, handling and delivery decisions.

• IMDG Code classification, declaration, packing, and segregation duties
• IMSBC Code cargo schedules, moisture limits, and sampling evidence
• Terminal liability boundaries under berth and handling agreements
• Cargo interests, freight forwarders, NVOCCs, and contractual privity
• Documenting exceptions, damage surveys, and delivery discrepancies
• Escalating unsafe cargo declarations before loading operations commence

Participants can establish immediate legal priorities after a casualty or emergency response.

• Casualty classification: collision, grounding, fire, and machinery failure
• Immediate notifications to flag state, coastal state, insurers, and owners
• COLREG collision duties, fault evidence, and contemporaneous records
• Salvage Convention principles, special compensation, and Lloyd's Open Form
• York-Antwerp Rules general average sacrifices, expenditures, and security
• Preserving voyage data recorder, logbook, and communications evidence

Participants can assess limitation rights and security requirements for maritime claims.

• LLMC limitation categories, tonnage calculations, and fund constitution
• Claims subject to limitation and statutory exclusions
• Breaking limitation through personal act or omission standards
• Ship arrest under the 1952 and 1999 Arrest Conventions
• Maritime liens, possessory liens, and priority ranking principles
• Selecting security instruments for claim release and settlement

Participants can coordinate insurance notification, coverage review and recovery actions.

• Hull and machinery, cargo, P&I, and FD&D coverage distinctions
• Marine Insurance Act disclosure, warranties, and causation principles
• P&I Club rules, letters of undertaking, and correspondent roles
• Sue and labour duties, mitigation, and claims documentation
• Subrogation rights and recovery from responsible third parties
• Preparing an insurer notification pack after operational loss

Participants can screen shipping transactions for sanctions, export-control and corruption risks.

• UN, EU, UK, and US maritime sanctions structures
• Ownership and control tests for sanctioned vessel counterparties
• AIS manipulation, ship-to-ship transfers, and deceptive shipping practices
• Export-control restrictions affecting cargoes, destinations, and end users
• Anti-bribery controls for agents, customs brokers, and port interactions
• Documenting sanctions decisions, approvals, and transaction monitoring

Participants can recognise legal duties associated with maritime systems, data and cyber incidents.

• IMO maritime cyber risk management requirements under the ISM Code
• Operational technology incidents affecting propulsion, cargo, and communications
• Data protection duties for crew, passenger, and commercial information
• Electronic evidence authenticity, chain of custody, and disclosure
• Cyber incident notifications under contractual and regulatory requirements
• Updating incident plans for compromised vessel or port systems

Participants can assess legal interfaces between vessels, offshore assets and port infrastructure.

• Offshore support contracts, knock-for-knock indemnities, and insurance
• Port concession agreements, berth rights, and terminal obligations
• Towage contracts, pilotage liability, and harbour authority powers
• Dredging, construction, and coastal permit legal requirements
• Subsea cables, pipelines, and offshore installation protection zones
• Mapping contractual interfaces for a complex port operation

Participants can select and manage an appropriate route for resolving maritime disputes.

• Negotiation, mediation, arbitration, litigation, and expert determination compared
• London Maritime Arbitrators Association terms and appointment procedure
• Arbitration clauses, seat selection, governing law, and institutional rules
• Interim measures, security for costs, and emergency relief
• Disclosure, witness evidence, experts, and privilege considerations
• Drafting a dispute escalation route for operational contracts

Participants can design governance controls for recurring maritime legal and regulatory obligations.

• Obligations registers linking legal requirements to operational control owners
• Three-lines model for maritime compliance oversight and assurance
• Risk assessment scoring using likelihood, impact, and control effectiveness
• Internal investigations: scope, interviews, records, and legal privilege
• Whistleblowing channels, retaliation controls, and case documentation
• Board reporting indicators for maritime legal and compliance exposure

Participants can coordinate an initial legal response to a maritime incident.

• First-hour actions following detention, collision, pollution, or cargo loss
• Legal hold notices and preservation of physical documentary evidence
• Privilege boundaries in internal reports and external correspondence
• Notification timetables for authorities, insurers, financiers, and counterparties
• Fact chronology methods separating verified evidence from assumptions
• Preparing legally controlled stakeholder communications during an incident

Participants can build, review and present a complete maritime legal compliance dossier for a defined operation.

• Defining the vessel, cargo, route, counterparties, and operational scope
• Applying the obligations register to material legal requirements
• Assessing contractual, regulatory, environmental, and sanctions risk exposures
• Finalising inspection, incident, evidence, and escalation control documents
• Reviewing the dossier against stakeholder challenge and legal defensibility
• Presenting recommended actions, owners, deadlines, and assurance indicators