Shipping & maritime law newsletter – Issue no. 31 (April 2021)

Authors: Jan Rossi, Jotham Scerri-Diacono, Matthew Xerri
Published on

Welcome to our 31st edition of the Ganado Advocates shipping & maritime law newsletter.

In this issue, we focus mostly on the environmental impacts of shipping activities, particularly ship recycling and oil pollution preparedness. We also have a look at shipping initiatives with Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) practices in mind and the latest project we have supported in this regard.

This issue also delves into tonnage tax and its implications on crew members. Lastly, we share with you the notices to shipowners and managers as published by the Merchant Shipping Directorate since the start of 2021.

We trust you will find this issue of the newsletter to be of interest. Please feel free to get in touch with us should you require any further information.

Keep safe!

Jotham Scerri-Diacono

News

Shipping and ESG

Together with other departments within the firm, the shipping team at Ganado Advocates has embarked on a project to assess how the law firm can contribute towards Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) practices.

Read more here >>

Articles and publications

Malta’s role in ship recycling and its impact on environmental protection

Ship recycling has recently taken a front seat both from a commercial perspective and a legal perspective. With an increasing number of ship owners choosing to recycle their vessels, recycling regulations continued to receive more attention.

Read more here >>

Crew management and tonnage tax

Following the decision of the European Commission endorsing Malta’s tonnage tax system and the subsequent enactment of Legal Notice 128 of 2018, Malta’s revised laws on tonnage tax have now been in force for just over two years.

Read more here >>

Lexology GTDT Market Intelligence – interview with Ganado Advocates discussing shipping in Malta

Lexology GTDT Market Intelligence provides a unique perspective on evolving legal and regulatory landscapes. This interview is taken from the Shipping volume discussing topics including sources of finance, compliance initiatives and foreign court decisions within key jurisdictions worldwide.

Read more here >>

Marine environment: Pollution preparedness, response and cooperation

The ‘International Convention on Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-Operation 1990 (OPRC 1990)’ and the ‘Protocol on Preparedness, Response and Co-Operation to Pollution Incidents by Hazardous and Noxious Substances (OPRC-HNS 2000), are two international legal instruments drawn by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). Malta acceded to both in 2003.

Read more here >>

Amendments to tonnage regulations

The Tonnage Regulations (S.L. 234.19) will be amended by virtue of the Tonnage (Amendment) Regulations, 2021 (L.N. 165 of 2021) which shall come into force on the 1st September, 2021. As a result Regulation 2 (Interpretation) and Regulation 18 (Measurement and certification) will be amended while the Fourth and Fifth Schedules to the Tonnage Regulations will be replaced by new Schedules.

MSD notices

Team news

The Ganado Advocates shipping team kept on growing!

Since the last edition, Ilias Theocharis re-joined the team as a Consultant, focusing on matters relating to ship registrations, sales and purchases, yachting and formation and governance of shipping organisations and companies.

Ewa Czekajło also joined the team as Shipping Administrator. Ewa is qualified in transportation, logistics and international trade and brings a wealth of experience in working within the shipping sector, both locally and abroad, as well as with transport regulators and other shipping operators.

In December 2020, Jan Rossi was promoted to Senior Associate. Jan specialises in maritime law, with a particular focus on advisory and transactional matters.

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.

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