Shipping

Shipping Viewpoints →

Read about the latest legal and regulatory developments in Asia

Shipping Team →

Meet our regional team of experienced lawyers

The shipping sector is a key contributor to the global economy, as it facilitates the movement of goods and people across the world, and supports various sectors, such as trade, tourism, energy, and manufacturing. The industry also offers significant opportunities for growth and innovation, as it adapts to the changing needs and demands of the market, and embraces new technologies and practices, such as digitalization, automation, and sustainability.

However, the shipping industry also faces various challenges and risks, such as market volatility, geopolitical instability, environmental concerns, cyber threats, piracy, and terrorism, as well as legal and regulatory uncertainties and complexities. These challenges and risks require careful and proactive management, as well as effective and efficient legal solutions, to ensure the smooth and successful operation and development of the industry.

Having maintained a complex portfolio of high-end shipping work over the years, we have garnered a wealth of experience led by a team of leading lawyers with sound, commercial minds. With a regional network of offices, our expanded ‘trading pattern’ has allowed us to take and offer our expertise and experience all throughout Asia.

Many of our partners have been consistently recognised by Chambers Global and The Legal 500 as leading practitioners and experts in this highly specialised area for many years. In Singapore, the practice has been ranked in Band 1 by Chambers Asia Pacific for over 2 decades.

Featured insights

Relationship between the Holy Trinity of Commercial Trade: The Sale Contract, The Carriage Contract and the Financing Arrangements

This examination will be done in the context of a recent judgment of Malaysia’s apex court, Malayan Banking Berhad v Punjab National Bank [2022] 4 MLJ 758 (Federal Court).

Our Cross Border Strength

Our regional shipping team in Asia comprises over 70 lawyers with diverse backgrounds from in-house and seagoing experience to certified marine engineers, and a resident master mariner based in Singapore, all of which gives us an edge. With multi-cultured lawyers qualified in their respective home jurisdictions (China, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam) – some of whom are dual-qualified and also admitted to the English roll – we can certainly reach and assist you wherever, and whenever you need us.

Our Extensive Experience

As a leading legal network with extensive experience and expertise in the shipping sector, we are well-positioned to provide comprehensive and tailored legal services to our clients who are involved in any of the following activities:

Construction and manufacturing of vessels (e.g., cargo ships, tankers, tugs, passenger vessels, ferry boats, fishing boats, submersibles) or other floating structures (e.g., floating docks, pontoons, buoys, floating tanks, barges, floating cranes) for commercial purposes.
Sea freight transport services via ships, barges, or tankers, as well as activities supporting operations such as marine terminal operation (e.g., port, harbour, pier), piloting and berthing activities, lightering and salvage activities, container shipping, cargo handling, warehousing, storage, distribution, as well as supporting maintenance services.
Operation and management of shipyards, ports, and associated maritime transportation facilities.

How We Can Help You

You can be confident in our depth of knowledge and intimate understanding of the entire spectrum of international trade and transportation.

We pride ourselves in our ability to assist in every contingency “from shipyard to scrapyard”, our industry-attuned minds focused always on achieving nothing less than the best results for our clients.

The areas in which we cover are as follows:

Charterparties, Cargo Claims and Security-Taking
Collisions and Marine Casualties
Oil Trading and Transportation
Shipbuilding, Repairs and Conversion
Work-Outs and Re-structuring (including Mortgage Enforcement)
Commodity Trading, Trade Finance and Structured Finance
Ship Finance and Non-Contentious Work
Marine Insurance

Charterparties, Cargo Claims and Security-Taking

In this ‘bread and butter’ aspect of shipping, each and everyone of our lawyers regularly advise on all facets of charterparties, bills of lading, cargo damage / loss claims, tug / tow matters and multi-modal transport issues, both in relation to drafting and resolving of disputes.

Collisions and Marine Casualties

Our team’s collision and casualty response team handles a broad spectrum of casualty-related work. The services we provide include casualty management, investigation and resolution of regulatory issues, advice on marine pollution liability, and representation of parties in collision and limitation actions.

Oil Trading and Transportation

We handle all aspects of disputes relating to oil and LNG transportation and trading, spanning Platts’ disputes to oil trading arrangements, contamination claims, and other quantity / quality issues. We represent oil majors, terminals, tanker fleet operators, and some of the world’s biggest independent oil-trading houses.

Shipbuilding, Repairs and Conversion

We have been involved in the most significant shipbuilding and conversion disputes arbitrated in Singapore and London.

Over the years, the scope of our work in this field has widened and matured into a complex and specialised practice involving a wide range of issues relating to the shipbuilding and repair disciplines – including work and task scheduling between the different construction disciplines, prolongation, disruption and acceleration costs, work variations and additional works and quality issues in newbuildings, repairs and conversion.

Work-Outs and Re-structuring (including Mortgage Enforcement)

Our team has extensive experience in this field, having been involved in all of the major work-outs and corporate and debt re-structurings. Our experience in this area makes us “always the first choice” for banks and other financial institutions, both local and international.

Commodity Trading, Trade Finance and Structured Finance

The team’s specialist experience covers all aspects of international trade transactions and finance, both contentious and non-contentious. In this key growth area, we advise a broad range of clients including banks, financial institutions, and commodity houses in commodities and trade disputes, trade finance documentation and litigation.

We also have extensive experience in managing FOSFA and GAFTA arbitrations and have established a strong reputation for our expertise in advising banks and traders on both contentious and non-contentious aspects of trade finance including letters of credit, warehouse finance, collateral management agreements, and international sale of goods.

We are also popular with commodities traders when it comes to structured finance transactions and ancillary documentary credit and collateral management agreements.

Ship Finance and Non-Contentious Work

We regularly engage in negotiations for shipbuilding contracts, ship sale and purchase agreements, commodities contracts, advising on financing and ownership structures, vessel and naval mortgage registration – as well as other non-contentious corporate shipping matters such as tax and related choice of flag issues, structured finance, refinancing, joint venture agreements, and mergers and acquisitions involving ship-owning interests.

And should disputes arise, we are well equipped to advise and resolve contentious issues arising from ship sale and purchase, shipbuilding and other MOU-related or financing disputes.

Marine Insurance

This well established area of our practice encompasses cargo insurance, hull and machinery insurance, builders’ insurance and P&I cover. Our lawyers advise underwriters, brokers and insured parties on their rights and liabilities under the relevant marine insurance policies.

We are highly regarded in the area, having acted as counsel in well-publicised marine insurance disputes. We are also actively involved in the resolution of a variety of marine insurance disputes whether in court or by arbitration.

Recognition

Band 1 – Shipping: Domestic (Singapore)

Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024)
Tier 1 – Shipping (Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia)

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024)
Tier 1 – Shipping & Aviation (Vietnam)

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024)
Outstanding, Recommended – Aviation & Shipping (Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand)

asialaw (2024)
Tier 1 & Highly Recommended – Shipping (Singapore, Malaysia)

Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific (2024)
Highly Recommended – Shipping (Malaysia)

asialaw (2024)
Band 2 – Shipping (Malaysia)

Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024)
Band 3 – Shipping: Finance (Singapore)

Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024)
Band 3 – Shipping: Litigation (Singapore)

Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024)
"Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP has a good understanding of maritime law and the shipping industry and has considerable experience in handling the cases and guiding the legal advice and compared to other law firms, they sympathize with the client’s needs and seek the solution in the client’s shoes."

The Legal 500 Asia Pacific (2024)
"Renowned for the size and strength of its litigation team. The firm covers the full range of contentious matters... with clients benefiting from its regional network of offices in South-East Asia."

Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024) (Singapore)
"Christopher & Lee Ong offers significant cross-border capability owing to its membership of the Rajah & Tann Asia network. The team frequently represents clients in litigation and arbitration proceedings, as well as handling ship arrests."

Chambers Asia-Pacific (2024) (Malaysia)
"Assegaf Hamzah & Partners provides a complete service for its clients in the shipping sector... The firm’s membership of the Rajah & Tann Asia network allows it to draw legal expertise and resources from other Asian jurisdictions, enabling a seamless service for its clients in shipping matters that are frequently multi-jurisdictional."

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2024) (Indonesia)
"Noted for its ‘in-depth knowledge of the field’. The team holds impressive capabilities handling both wet and dry shipping work for key domestic and international clients."

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2024) (Malaysia)
"Experienced in representing its clients in contentious matters, such as complex ship-arrest proceedings."

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2024) (Malaysia)
"Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP’s well-established shipping practice advises on the gamut of matters across the maritime space... The team is well-versed in complex cross-border and multi-jurisdictional matters."

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2024) (Singapore)

Provides a complete service for its clients in the shipping sector... The Rajah & Tann Asia network allows it to draw legal expertise and resources from other Asian jurisdictions, enabling a seamless service for its clients in shipping matters that are frequently multi-jurisdictional.”

The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific (2024) (Indonesia)