Maritime Law Association Of The United States News

Maritime Partners,a Louisiana-based provider of maritime financing solutions primarily focused on Jones Act vessels, announced the addition of Stephen J. Bordes and Greg Chase to its executive leadership team.Bordes joins Maritime Partners as its chief financial officer, and Chase as as the firm’s chief legal officer.Bordes brings to the company more than 20 years of experience in the fields of finance and fund management. Prior to joining Maritime Partners, he served as the CFO for New York-based American Industrial Partners…

Boriana Farrar is a familiar face in maritime circles, the Vice President and Counsel and a Senior Claims Executive and Business Development Director for the Americas at the Ship Owners Claims Bureau, Inc. managers of the American P&I Club. We met with her in her NYC office to discuss her path from her native Bulgaria to a top maritime professional position.When Boriana Farrar moved from her native Bulgaria to the United States in 2001, she did so to be close to family, her mother and her sister who had already established a life in the U.S., some 5,000 miles from her homeland.

BIMCO’s Documentary Committee approved a new set of standard bunker terms, developed by a cross-industry group, in New York on 2 May. The BIMCO Bunker Terms 2018 improve on the previous edition with a maximum limit of the parties’ liabilities – a key change that will lead to wider adoption of the contract. “I think it is a positive step for the industry that representatives for the bunker traders and shipowners have agreed on a standard set of terms, which both parties consider fair and balanced,” says Francis Sarre, Chair of the BIMCO Documentary Committee. The trader representatives who helped draft the contract together account for 25% of the total bunker volume sold globally, which BIMCO sees as a very strong sign of support for the final result.

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 North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) announced that Clay Maitland will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award at an awards dinner in New York on October 26. Maitland, who is a Managing Partner of International Registries, Inc (Marshall Islands Ship Registry), is being recognized for his many industry accomplishments including being a NAMEPA co-founder. “Clay is one of the finest examples in our industry of a successful businessman who expends nearly as much energy on philanthropy,” said NAMEPA Chairman Joe Hughes. Maitland has worked in the shipping industry since graduation from law school in 1968. He was employed by International Registries, Inc.

The Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), a member of the YCF Group of companies and exclusive administrator of the world’s largest quality ship register, has appointed Christian Mollitor to the position of vice president. This newly created role represents a return to LISCR for Mollitor. Having formerly held the position of Assistant Department Head of Seafarer Certification and Documentation, he left the registry in 2001 to further develop his career. This…

A.M. Best Co. has released the latest installment of the Insurance Law Podcast , a series that examines timely insurance issues from an attorney’s point of view. This episode features attorney David Skeen of the firm Wright, Constable & Skeen, LLP in Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Skeen has been practicing admiralty law for 39 years and has been an editor with the publication American Maritime Cases for most of that time. He is a member of the Maritime Law Association of the United States and has written and lectured on various aspects of maritime law. Mr. Skeen discusses the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Lozman v. City of Riviera Beach, Florida to hold that a houseboat previously considered a vessel under maritime law was not a vessel.

'Financing Charters' may now be treated as 'Preferred Mortgages' — The Republic of the Marshall Islands passes Maritime Amendment Act (No. 1), 2013. The Republic of the Marshall Islands’ Nitijela has passed the Maritime Amendment Act (No. 1), 2013 – a legislative initiative of key significance to the international marine finance community. The first-of-its-kind legislation permits a “financing charter” to be treated as a preferred mortgage in favor of the registered owner of a Marshall Islands vessel, which allows a charter party to make precautionary security filings to protect and perfect its interest in a chartered vessel. This solves…

Joins More than 30 International Maritime Industry Speakers. Clay Maitland, managing partner of International Registries, Inc., which administers the Marshall Islands Ship Registry, the third largest registry in the world, will be the keynote speaker at the SHIPPINGInsight 2012 Fleet Optimization Conference, Oct. 8-10 in Stamford, Conn. As keynoter, Maitland, a distinguished veteran in the shipping industry, will set the tone in addressing the challenges and solutions for improving ship efficiency and fleet operations – the central theme of the conference.

The operation of vessels in international commerce has never been more complicated than it is today, particularly from the standpoint of regulatory compliance. A vessel operator must be cognizant of international, national, state and local regulatory requirements. In an ideal world, the regulations of subjects such as navigation safety, crew licensure or pollution would be uniform so that an operator could understand the law and more easily comply. In cases where the requirements of one jurisdiction differ from those of another, it would certainly be helpful to know where the line of demarcation between one jurisdiction and another could be firmly drawn. The regulation of air pollution emitted from large oceangoing vessels has been the subject of an international treaty for many years.

The American Salvage Association (ASA), supported by the Association of Diving Contractors International (ADCI), International Salvage Union (ISU), Marine Technology Society (MTS), Maritime Law Association of the United States (MLA), North American Marine Environmental Protection Association (NAMEPA), Spill Control Association of America (SCAA), Maritime Technology Alliance (MTA), and the World Ocean Council (WOC), will sponsor a conference, “Wrecks of the  World: Hidden Risks of the Deep (WOW)” on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at the Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS) in the Washington, DC area (Linthicum Heights, MD) USA.

Carroll McNulty & Kull LLC (CMK) has announced that Christopher H. Mansuy has joined the law firm as a member. Mansuy brings 35 years of experience to CMK handling maritime and commercial litigation matters in the State and Federal Courts of New York and New Jersey as well as maritime disputes in arbitration including the Society of Maritime Arbitrators and the American Arbitration Association. With offices in New York and Basking Ridge, N.J., CMK provides comprehensive services to clients in the areas of admiralty, maritime, transportation, and international trade.

Blank Rome LLP announced that Gregory F. Linsin has joined the Firm as a Partner in the White Collar, Internal & Government Investigations practice group. Mr. Linsin brings more than 25 years of experience as a federal prosecutor and has an extensive background in the supervision and prosecution of complex maritime and environmental criminal cases with the Environmental Crimes Section of the United States Department of Justice. Mr. Linsin will be based in Firm’s Washington, D.C. office. Prior to joining Blank Rome, Linsin served as Special Litigation Counsel for the United States Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section. In this capacity, Mr.

Under the general maritime law, a vessel owner has a duty to furnish a seaworthy vessel. A seaworthy vessel is one which is reasonably fit to carry the cargo it has undertaken to transport. II. Initially, a towboat operator has a duty to properly moor the barges it delivers, and breach of that duty imposes liability on the party delivering a vessel to the fleeter. When a towboat moors an unmanned barge or barges and those barges drift away from their moorings within a short time thereafter, there is a presumption of fault against the mooring vessel which shifts the burden of proof to the mooring vessel to show that it exercised due care. III. A terminal operator's duty to exercise reasonable care includes periodically inspecting barges in its custody.