Legal Beat News

The owners and managers of the M/V Dali, the ship that destroyed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, have brought a claim in the Pennsylvania Court against the vessel’s shipbuilder, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. The M/V Dali was completed and delivered by HHI in 2015, so is 10 years old.The owners/managers allege strict products liability for defective design and manufacturing, breach of implied warranties, negligent misrepresentation, negligence and an indemnity and/or a contribution.

On July 31, 2025, President Trump signed an Executive Order (“E.O.”) modifying reciprocal tariffs that became effective on August 7, 2025. Some aspects of the impact are well understood such as increased tariff burden on importers ranging from 10% to over 40%. Still, other aspects of the practical effect and its knock-on effects for shipping are relatively novel. Understanding these measures is essential for all import supply chain participants and their service providers as real impacts on transportation spend and compliance risk come in focus.The In-Transit ExceptionCentral to the E.O.

Danish wind farm developer Orsted's Revolution Wind joint venture has filed a lawsuit against the administration of President Donald Trump over the U.S. government's decision to block construction of the project off Rhode Island, a court filing showed on Thursday.The U.S.

The captain of an oil tanker and two officers accused of severing five undersea power and telecoms cables in the Baltic Sea last December, blamed technical faults for the damage as their trial began in Helsinki on Monday.NATO allies with forces stationed around the Baltic Sea went on high alert after the December 25 incident, one of a string of suspicious cable and gas pipeline outages in the region since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.Prosecutors say the Eagle S tanker deliberately dragged its 11…

Finland's national prosecutor's office said on Monday it had brought charges against the captain and first and second officers of the Eagle S oil tanker over the cutting of undersea cables in the Gulf of Finland in December.The Georgian and Indian nationals are suspected of aggravated criminal mischief and aggravated interference with communications by dragging the ship's anchor for around 90 km (56 miles) across the seabed, a prosecutors' statement said.The defendants, who are not permitted to leave Finland, have denied committing the offences and consider that Finland also lacks jurisdiction

Hundreds of Lebanese gathered solemnly near Beirut's coast on Monday to commemorate a half-decade since the cataclysmic port blast of 2020, when more than 200 people were killed in one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history.Carrying Lebanese flags and portraits of some of the victims, many of those standing said they felt deeply disappointed that no one has been held to account for the devastating explosion."Can someone tell me why five years on we're still standing here?

Three Republican House lawmakers on Monday asked the CEOs of Alphabet, Facebook parent Meta, Amazon.com and Microsoft if they have adopted adequate safeguards to address growing national security concerns on submarine communications cables.Washington has been raising alarm about the network of more than 400 subsea cables that handle 99% of international internet traffic and about threats from China and Russia.The letter raised concerns that entities affiliated with China "such as SBSS…

IntroductionThe increase in geopolitical tensions in the Middle East recently resulted in Iran threatening to close the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz (the “Strait”) to international shipping. Inevitably, this led to considerable concern over the impact that the closure of the Strait (or attacks on vessels passing through the Strait) would have on the flow of goods and energy products, as well as the potential disruption to international markets that would drive up prices.The Strait holds geographical importance as one of the world’s most important choke points.

The IMO Council met for its 134th session from July 7-11, 2025 at IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom (with hybrid participation). The session was chaired by Mr. Victor Jimenez Fernandez (Spain), supported by the Vice-Chair, Ms. Amane Fethallah (Morocco). Outcomes of the meeting are outlined below:Revised Strategic Plan for 2024-2026The Council approved the Revised Strategic Plan for the six-year period 2024 to 2029, including the mission statement, vision statement, overarching…

The latest volume of Decisions of the Federal Maritime Commission, Second Series has been published on the FMC website: Decisions of the Federal Maritime Commission, Second Series (Volume 8).This publication provides a compendium of Initial and Final Decisions of the Commission and selected other orders that may be legally significant or establish legal precedent.The volume now incorporates the period of January 2024 through December 2024.Decisions and orders published in the volume may be cited by counsel and parties in Commission proceedings using the abbreviation F.M.C.2d.

The Sofia city prosecutor's office said on Wednesday it had conducted an investigation into a 2023 gas deal between Turkish state gas company Botas and Bulgaria's Bulgargaz and searched the home of a former energy minister.Bulgargaz and Botas signed a 13-year deal in 2023, allowing Bulgargaz to use Turkey's LNG terminals for cargo shipments, which would be transported via Botas's gas network to Bulgaria.However, the deal led Bulgargaz into debt, as it ended up paying for unused capacity, energy minister Zhecho Stankov said in May.

Germany is considering changing its foreign trade law to prevent the company running the Nord Stream 2 pipelines from being taken over, a document showed on Friday, as part of Berlin's efforts to prevent any resumption of Russian gas imports.For decades Germany relied on cheap Russian gas, but since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, it has sought alternatives.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he will ensure Nord Stream 2, which the country once backed, would not go into operation…

On March 5, 2025, the United States Senate passed an important bill to authorize funding for our United States Coast Guard, after failing to do so in the previous Congress. S. 524, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, would if enacted into law authorize appropriations to fund the Coast Guard totaling $30.45 billion for fiscal years 2025 and 2026. The bill is sponsored by Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee Chairman Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and cosponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), and Tammy Baldwin (D-WI).

Global shipping groups are looking to Brazil's courts to overturn competition rules that bar them from participating in the first round of bidding on a major new container terminal at Latin America's largest port, due to take place later this year.Danish shipping group Maersk filed a lawsuit on Monday in Sao Paulo against Brazil's marine transport authority (Antaq), and its general director, according to a document seen by Reuters. The lawsuit called for "procedural corrections to ensure a fair process" to assign the Tecon 10 terminal at the Port of Santos.The bidding rules…

Finnish prosecutors are considering pressing charges against three senior officers of an oil tanker suspected of damaging undersea power and telecommunications cables in the Baltic Sea in December, police and the prosecutor said on Friday.Finnish authorities suspect the Cook Islands-registered Eagle S of having broken the Estlink 2 undersea power cable connecting Finland and Estonia as well as four internet lines last December by dragging its anchor across the seabed.Finland's…

China's government on Friday said Taiwan was deliberately politicising the damage of undersea communication cables as part of a smear campaign, expressing anger after the island jailed a Chinese ship captain for an incident earlier this year.A Taiwanese court on Thursday sentenced the captain of the Togo-flagged ship to three years in jail after finding him guilty of intentionally damaging undersea cables off the island in February, in an incident that alarmed Taiwan officials.In a statement, China's Taiwan Affairs Office said that damage to maritime cables were "common accidents", saying Taiw

A Taiwanese court sentenced the Chinese captain of a ship to three years in jail on Thursday after finding him guilty of intentionally damaging undersea cables off the island in February, in a case that alarmed Taiwan officials.Prosecutors said the man was captain of the Chinese-crewed Hong Tai 58, registered in Togo, which Taiwanese authorities detained after suspecting the ship had dropped anchor near an undersea cable off southwestern Taiwan, damaging it.The court in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan said the ship's Chinese captain, whom they identified only by his family name, Wang, wa

The U.S. inland waterway system is a critical and underutilized component of the domestic supply chain that serves non-contiguous markets originating in or destined for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions. For transportation service providers and shippers that operate in the domestic trade of the U.S., ocean carriers, barge operators, and inland waterway providers can offer cost-effective scalable alternatives to the traditional surface and air modes that connect these regions to the U.S. mainland.

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday appeared to back the anti-automation stance of some 45,000 union dockworkers on the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts, whose labor talks are at an impasse over that polarizing issue.The ILA and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group are facing a Jan. 15 deadline to finalize talks, which stalled over automation. That cutoff comes just five days before Trump's inauguration.The ILA says automation kills jobs while employers say it is necessary to keep U.S. ports competitive in a rapidly changing global economy."The amount of money saved is nowhere near the distress, hurt, and harm it causes for American Workers, in this case, our Longshoremen," Trump said of automation projects in a post on Truth Social.

Venezuela's oil exports rose 10.5% last year despite political instability and changes to the U.S. sanctions regime on the country, as partners of state oil company PDVSA took more cargoes under licenses granted by Washington.As President Nicolas Maduro gets ready to start his third term in office next week following disputed election results, the OPEC country's oil exports rose for a second consecutive year, providing revenue to contribute to economic growth.U.S.-sanctioned PDVSA PDVSA.UL and its joint ventures exported an average of 772…

House Committee on Oversight and Accountability has released an interim staff memorandum providing an update on the Committee’s ongoing investigation into the United States Coast Guard (USCG) following allegations of pervasive sexual assault and misconduct.The memorandum details how the USCG concealed “Operation Fouled Anchor” from Congress, failed to address both historic and persistent sexual misconduct at the USCG Academy, and neglected to help victims and hold perpetrators accountable.Key Takeaways from the Interim Memorandum:USCG leadership made a cognizant decision to withhold Operation Fouled Anchor and other related misconduct reviews from Congress and the public.

Strikes at ports on the US East Coast and Gulf Coast, which would have caused an economic and supply chain crisis, have been called off – with ocean container freight rate growth now expected to slow or fall.The strikes were set to begin on 15 January and would have forced the closure of ports from Maine to Texas. This has now been averted after a tentative agreement over a new six-year master contract was reached between the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), which represents port workers…

The first thirty days of the new Trump Administration have brought sweeping changes throughout the federal government. We take a pause to assess where things stand for maritime stakeholders and what may be coming next in Washington, DC, for our industry.A Maritime DirectiveFor those that work in the U.S maritime space, it is axiomatic to state that all aspects of the maritime industry are critical to our national security. U.S. flag vessels and merchant mariners not only support U.S. economic prosperity, but also build the key sea lines of communication to support military operations.