Legal Department News

Carnival Corporation & plc, the world's largest cruise company, announced its current Chief Operations Officer Josh Weinstein will assume the role of President and CEO of Carnival Corporation & plc, effective August 1, succeeding Arnold Donald, who is being appointed Vice Chair and member of the Boards of Directors.A 20-year veteran of Carnival Corporation & plc, Weinstein has held critical senior-level roles for the company. In his most recent assignment for the past two years as Carnival Corporation & plc's Chief Operations Officer…

The first cargo ships from Dubai that docked last year in the Mediterranean port of Haifa were met by celebration in Israel. Flags waved. Reporters gathered. The prime minister walked the pier and gave a speech about the fruits of making peace.There was zero fanfare, however, when oil tankers began arriving at the smaller Israeli port of Eilat on the Red Sea in an arrangement with Emirati partners. Rather than washing machines and cleaning supplies for consumers, the ships unloaded…

Long-serving Hamburg Süd executive Poul Hestbaek will take the CEO reins from Dr. Arnt Vespermann, who will step down after more than 20 years at the German container shipping company.Hestbaek has been with Hamburg Süd since 2004 and is currently the company's CCO. The 59-year-old shipping-industry veteran has previously been responsible for the liner shipping company’s commercial business on several continents, including Latin America, Europe and Asia/Pacific.Vespermann joined…

Carnival Corp on Friday named Josh Weinstein as its new chief operations officer as the company continues to grapple with the global COVID-19 pandemic.Reporting to Carnival Corporation President and CEO Arnold Donald, Weinstein's responsibilities will include oversight of major operational functions, including global maritime, global ports and destinations, global sourcing, global IT and global auditing.Weinstein will retain oversight of Carnival UK, the operating company for P&O Cruises and Cunard, which he managed directly for the past three years.

Short-term sales of crude oil and liquefied natural gas into China almost ground to a halt this week as the coronavirus slows economic activity and cuts demand and buyers ponder legal action to avoid having to honor purchase agreements, trade sources said.Typically, trade would have revived after the Lunar New Year holiday at the end of January, but China has extended the break into February to try to contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, which has claimed nearly 500 lives.As a result…

Crowley Maritime Corp. has announced that Tim Bush has been promoted to vice president and deputy general counsel. In his new position, Bush will help support the company’s growth as a provider of solutions for the U.S. government and various public-sector agencies. He will be based in Houston and report to Michael Roberts, senior vice president and general counsel. “Tim is an outstanding lawyer, and adds a great deal of value to the Crowley team,” Roberts said. Bush will continue to serve as Crowley’s lead attorney on several large projects for the U.S government, including the Defense Freight Transportation Services (DFTS) contract for the U.S.

Robert (Bob) Clyne, ABS Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary , was recognized with the Outstanding Professional Achievement Award for his distinguished accomplishments as a graduate who best exemplifies the finest tradition of Kings Point – Acta Non Verba – and lending honor and prestige to the United States Merchant Marine Academy. “Bob is most deserving of this recognition,” said ABS Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Christopher J. Wiernicki. Clyne began his career at ABS working in various positions from 1982 to 1988. Upon earning his law degree, he joined the firm of Hill Rivkins LLP where he practiced maritime law for 24 years and served as Co-Managing Partner from 2006 to 2012.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore’s (MPA) training arm, the MPA Academy (MPAA) and the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), jointly organised the 6th MPLP from 3 to 7 October 2016, with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) under the Singapore Cooperation Programme. Since its launch in 2011, the programme has now trained more than 110 senior maritime officials from more than 50 countries. Specially designed for high-level senior executives from maritime administrations around the world, who are at least Director-level and equivalent, the programme this year welcomes 26 new participants from various regions including Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, Middle East and Oceania.

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced today that Kerri McClellan has been promoted to vice president and deputy general counsel for the corporation. McClellan, who is based in Jacksonville and reports to Senior Vice President and General Counsel Mike Roberts, joined Crowley approximately two years ago as senior corporate counsel and assistant corporate secretary and has excelled at corporate governance and transactional work among other legal areas, the company said. “Kerri has been a tremendous partner in the legal department…

A two-day Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Awareness Campaign updated the seafarer public in Luneta Park, Manila of MPHRP’s programmes and services led by MPHRP Regional Director for Philippines/Southeast Asia Rancho Villavicencio and MPHRP Assistant Programme Director Hennie la Grange, July 23-24. In partnership with SEACOMS Maritime Development International, Inc., the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme Philippines held its awareness campaign for the second time in Manila where a seafarer crowd was gathered to be informed of the programme’s existence and how MPHRP assists piracy survivors and their families locally.

China warned Japan on Friday to stay out of a growing dispute with its neighbors over the South China Sea, as the Philippines implicitly accused Beijing of delaying talks aimed at a solution. China claims almost the entire South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei in one of Asia's most intractable disputes and a possible flashpoint. It also has a separate maritime dispute with Japan over islands in the East Sea. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday expressed concern about regional tensions that he said were stoked by China's "unilateral drilling" after China moved a giant oil rig into disputed waters, a moved denounced by the Philippines, Vietnam and the United States.

This month’s editorial calendar has, in part, as its focus, oil pollution, prevention and response. Or, in other words, missions and matters that cut to the very heart of the American Salvage Association (ASA) and the goals of its considerable membership. This month, ASA President Paul Hankins weighs in on a host of issues that impact the rapidly evolving world of salvage, the players that make up that sector of the marine industry, and why all of that is important. Mr. Hankins…

Alion Science and Technology, a global engineering, technology and operational solutions company, announced that Kevin Boyle has joined the company as General Counsel. Mr. Boyle’s expertise includes government contracts law and litigation, M&A, equity and debt financing, SEC compliance and intellectual property. He will support Alion’s worldwide growth strategy as well as corporate governance and ethics initiatives. Mr. Boyle was formerly General Counsel for MCR, LLC, where he established the company’s first legal department and corporate governance functions and helped navigate the company through several important legal and regulatory challenges.

WISTA President Karin Orsel announced the formation and accreditation of WISTA Russia, which has been developed under the leadership of prominent Russian executives. The inauguration of this National WISTA Association (NWA) was held during a post RUMI (Russian Union of Marine Insurers) conference reception on November 21 in Moscow. The Russian National WISTA Association becomes the 33rd Member of the WISTA organization. "I am proud to be present for the birth of this important WISTA Member," stated Ms. Orsel.

Superior Energy Services (Superior) announce that the Houston Business Journal (HBJ) has recognized Blaine Edwards, a Superior assistant general counsel, as the Best Associate General Counsel of a Small Legal Department for the 2013 Best Corporate Counsel Awards. Founded eight years ago, this program seeks to recognize the most prominent companies and top, in-house lawyers who contributed to Houston’s economic success this past year. As the only in-house litigator at Superior, Edwards considers his job very challenging and rewarding. He is responsible for a varied, worldwide docket of cases.

AdvanFort Company, approved by the Panama Maritime Authority (PMA) for Panama-flag vessel counter-piracy operations. “We at AdvanFort are very pleased that the world’s largest flag state has vetted our company and approved our highly-trained operators to protect their ships from piracy attack,” said Captain William H. Watson, president of AdvanFort. The Resolution (Number 106-26-DGMM) is dated 4 February 2013 and was later signed by the general director, following an extensive review by the PMA’s Technical Committee and Legal Department. The Republic of Panama is the largest ship registry in the world, with more than 5,700 ships flying the Panamanian flag.

Ain’t love grand? There’s the courtship phase: the wine, the roses, the proposal; the blood tests come back approved by the credit committee . . . finally the borrower and the lender fund the deal and tie the knot forever, walking off into the sunset in vessel finance ecstasy. Or, so the happy ending should go. But for some, there will be a time when the relationship with their vessel’s lender hits the proverbial rocks. The relationship might, in certain circumstances be salvageable, but in others, it will end in an abandoned ship . . . foreclosure. More often than not, this breakup is usually caused by the borrower’s failure to pay as agreed due to any number of financial or other misfortunes that may have befallen him (or her).

IQPC Exchange interviewed the General Counsel of Maersk Line, Martin Clausen, to find out how the legal department of the largest container ship operator in the world has utilised lean methodologies, and what impact this is having on productivity. Martin's team has implemented a number of systems and methods and is planning to expand these in the future. One of the key tools they have applied so far is a visual management system. The team has also done work observations to investigate how their legal executives currently work, offer tips on how to improve their processes and identify training needs. The next stage planned for the legal department is a Gemba observation, which is a workplace observation technique used in Lean theory.

Netherlands law firm AKD has appointed Jan Kromhout as a partner in its shipping and offshore team.Jan began his career in Rotterdam with the law firm Nauta Dutilh. In 2005 he joined the leading operator in the international market for heavy marine transport, where he became head of the legal department and where he also gained extensive experience of arranging contracts involving the oil and gas industry Jan works closely with shipping companies in drawing up transport contracts, arranging charter  parties, co-operation agreements, shipbuilding contracts and vessel financing arrangements.

Crowley Maritime Corporation announced the promotion of Arthur LaMoureaux to vice president of internal audit, ethics and compliance. He will remain domiciled in Jacksonville and report directly to Crowley's board of directors and administratively to Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Bill Pennella. "Given the size, scope and diversity of Crowley, we believe it is of the utmost importance to sharpen our focus even further on ethics and compliance," said Tom Crowley, chairman, president and CEO.

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Carrier Strike Group (ALCSG) entered the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of responsibility (AOR) June 27, after spending the majority of a successful 2006 deployment in the U.S. 7th Fleet AOR. While in the 7th Fleet AOR, ALCSG participated in exercises such as Foal Eagle and Valiant Shield. “So far we’ve participated in Foal Eagle with the [Republic of Korea] and a passing exercise with the Japanese,” said Lt. Cmdr. Wayne Goveia of the embarked staff of Commander, Carrier Strike Group 9. ALCSG also made port calls in Hong Kong; Laem Chebang, Thailand; Singapore and Sasebo, Japan. ALCSG is deployed to conduct maritime security operations and to train with its coalition partners to improve its ability to operate with naval forces from many nations.