Shipping & maritime law newsletter – Issue no. 28 (October 2019) Authors: Jotham Scerri-Diacono, Jan Rossi, Saman Bugeja, Marcus Rizzo Naudi, Matthew Attard Published on November 18, 2019 Welcome to the October 2019 edition of the GANADO Advocates Shipping & Maritime Law Newsletter. The highlight for this edition of our newsletter must surely be the decision of the Malta Flag Administration to establish its very first regional office in Greece. The idea behind the opening of this office is to “further enhance the level of service provided by the Flag Administration”. Tonnage registered in Malta keeps growing and up to the end of September this year, more than 8,370 ships were registered under Malta’s ship registry and over the last nine months there was an increase of 6% in the number of ships which fly the Maltese flag. This augurs well for the Malta Flag, notwithstanding intense competition emanating from other jurisdictions. Meanwhile, Rachel Genovese returned to the fold. Having completed her Master of Law Degree at the University of London, she returns with renewed energy and a determination to start putting her academic achievements into practice. Throughout the summer, the rest of the team took part in various initiatives, from contributing to the education of future maritime lawyers to participating in an international shipping seminar in Istanbul, Turkey to publishing academic articles on various aspects of maritime law and practice. In this edition, we also highlight the important updates that the Merchant Shipping Directorate (MSD) issued for ship owners and managers. We trust you will find this issue of the newsletter to be of interest. Please free to get in touch with us should you require any further information on any of the reports in this edition. Jotham Scerri-Diacono News The Maltese Ship Registry establishes a regional office in Greece The Merchant Shipping Directorate has been working towards expanding its offices outside Maltese shores. In October 2019, The Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects inaugurated the first regional shipping office in Athens, Greece. Read more here >> GANADO Advocates hosted Kavlak Academy Student The close collaboration between Mr Firat B. Kavlak and Dr Jotham Scerri-Diacono instigated an opportunity for the Kavlak Academy in Istanbul to send its prize-winning student for 2019 to GANADO Advocates. Ms Irem Nur Bayramoglu spent a week-long internship at our offices during September 2019. We look forward to continuing the practice of this law firm to open its doors to foreign lawyers seeking experiences abroad as a way to cross-cultivate legal experiences. Read more here >> Jan Rossi participated in a Seminar in Istanbul on the Environmental Aspects of Shipping Co-organised by the Transport Law Commission within the International Association of Young Lawyers (AIJA) and the International T.R.A.D.E Commission, the seminar tackled various themes relating to the industry, mainly the environmental aspects of shipping and trade. Jan Rossi spoke on the second day of the seminar, participating in a panel discussing the ‘Environmental and legal aspects in marine accidents and abandoned vessels’. Read more here >> GANADO Advocates’ contributed to the ELSA Malta Summer Law School 2019 Jotham Scerri-Diacono and Caroline Risiott were once again invited to lecture on topical maritime law aspects to international law students and lawyers attending the Summer ELSA Law School on Maritime Law. Read more here >> Matthew Attard re-elected as Vice President of MMLA We are proud to announce that, earlier this year, Dr Matthew Attard has been re-elected Vice President of the Malta Maritime Law Association (MMLA). Read more here >> Articles and publications The Meaning of ‘Ship’ in Judicial Sales in Malta Jotham Scerri-Diacono, Jan Rossi and Marcus Rizzo Naudi discuss a number of cases involving the judicial sale of ships in Malta. First published in the Journal of International Maritime Law (JIML) vol 25 (2019) Issue 2 at 156-60 by Lawtext Publishing Limited. Read more here >> The Malta flag: shipping funds and sale and leaseback transactions Jan Rossi and Ilias Theocharis discussed the reasons why the ship sale and leaseback method is gaining popularity and how Malta has introduced legislation to facilitate the lessor-lessee relationship. Read more here >> Lexology Getting the Deal Through – Shipping 2019 Jotham Scerri-Diacono and Jan Rossi contributed the Malta Chapter in Lexology Getting the Deal Through – Shipping for 2019. Read more here >> Legal Perspective on Environmental Regulations Saman Bugeja and Marcus Rizzo Naudi give a glimpse into the 2020 Sulphur Regulations and the Ship Recycling EU Regulation. Read more here >> Malta rings changes to attract leaseback deals Jan Rossi and Ilias Theocharis contributed to TradeWinds, on sale and leaseback transactions. Read more here >> MSD notices Reporting Obligations Related to Exhaust Gas Cleaning System (EGCS) Malfunctions 4th November 2019 Marpol Related Deficiencies to the 15-PPM Bilge Alarm System 23rd October 2019 Application of Regulation (EU) 1257/2013 on Ship Recycling by Port State Control 16th October 2019 Safety Issues Associated with Excessive Consumption of Alcohol 21st August 2019 Marine Equipment Directive – EU Declarations of Conformity 21st August 2019 Ballast Water Management Plan Contingency Measures 7th August 2019 Concentrated Inspection Campaign on Emergency Systems and Procedures 1st August 2019 New team members Rachel Genovese re-joins the shipping team after completing her studies in London Rachel Genovese has returned to Malta following the completion of her master’s degree in corporate and commercial law at Queen Mary University of London. She focused her studies on international shipping law, wet shipping law, charterparties, marine insurance and media law. She has now re-joined the Shipping department and will be focusing her energies on vessel registrations, sales and purchases of vessels, corporate shipping and shipping litigation matters, and matters relating to environmental law. In particular, she has been tasked with developing the ship recycling expertise within the team, being one of the core areas that she specialised in while reading for her masters in London. We trust that this issue of our shipping and maritime law newsletter was of interest to our readers. Should you have any queries, feedback or suggestions to make, please feel free to contact Jotham Scerri-Diacono, Karl Grech Orr or Daniel Aquilina. We will be pleased to hear from you. This newsletter was co-authored by Ilias Theocharis. Go back