Maritime and Commercial Law

Maritime trade is one of the few fields in which a shipowner, a carrier, a shipper, a consignee and an insurer may all hold rights in the same carriage. Who bears the loss when cargo is damaged is therefore usually determined not by the incident itself, but by how the transport documents were drawn up.

Where disputes arise

Most maritime carriage files turn on three points: the condition of the cargo when it was taken over, the reservations recorded on the transport document, and the time that passed before the damage was identified. Where these cannot be established by documentation, showing that the loss arose during carriage becomes difficult. For that reason we build the file from the documents first and add the account of events afterwards.

The commercial relationship carries its own risk

In disputes between companies the argument often stems not from the written terms of the contract but from the practice the parties have followed for years. Delivery periods, the operation of the current account, customary discount rates and order correspondence shape the content of the relationship even when the contract is silent on them. When we review a commercial file we therefore examine the parties' past dealings as closely as the contract text.

The principal matters we handle in this field:

• Review of carriage, freight and cargo contracts
• Assessment of cargo damage and loss claims
• Liability disputes arising from maritime operations
• Contract and current account disputes between companies
• Commercial receivables and unfair competition claims

In commercial files the sequence of time limits and the moment at which evidence is fixed directly affect the outcome. An assessment made before the dispute grows is often more decisive than proceedings brought later.