Fortior law https://fortiorlaw.com handle a wide range of maritime law matters, both contentious and non-contentious. Our expertise includes advising on and drafting charter parties, riders, and standard shipping terms. Over the years, we have been involved in numerous disputes involving issues such as unpaid freight, cargo liens by shipowners, demurrage, detention damages, claims related to vessel speed and consumption, deviations from contractual terms, seaworthiness concerns, misdelivery, and other disputes under bills of lading.
Our team of lawyers represents clients in various maritime arbitration proceedings, including those under LMAA and ad hoc rules, among others. We also possess extensive experience litigating these matters in the High Court of London. Across different jurisdictions, we have successfully executed vessel arrests to support our clients’ maritime claims, including in Georgia, Bulgaria, Malta, the Netherlands, and Turkey. Additionally, we have conducted cargo arrests at storage facilities in multiple jurisdictions.
Examples of our recent work include:
- Resolving LMAA arbitration disputes over detention damages resulting from a vessel's detention by a state security service, which also addressed cargo liens and the reasonableness of proposed mitigation measures.
- Handling ad hoc arbitrations concerning freight payment disputes for multiple vessels totaling nearly US$8 million.
- Managing SCC arbitration valued at US$5 million, which encompassed disputes over hire payments and claims for damages due to deviation, reduced speed, increased consumption, seaworthiness issues, and the required steps for mitigating damages following an allegedly unlawful termination of the charter.
- Addressing ad hoc arbitration related to shipowners’ refusal to proceed to the Ukrainian port of Odesa due to insurance issues. In this case, charterers argued that the shipowners’ failure to obtain insurance did not exempt them from fulfilling their charter obligations and highlighted the shipowners' awareness of risks at the charter signing. The breach resulted in damages for charterers concerning obligations to third parties and storage costs.
Our practice is dedicated to providing strategic solutions tailored to the complexities of maritime disputes worldwide.