Archive

On 17 February 2026, the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (Beijing Convention) entered into force. Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 7 December 2022, the Beijing Convention opened for signature on 5 September 2023. As of March 2026, only three states had ratified the Beijing Convention. However, with greater adoption, the Beijing Convention aims to provide […]

OVERVIEW In Moeve Trading SAU v Mael Trading FZ LLC,1 the English High Court (the “Court”) confirmed that in commodity sale contracts, a letter of credit (“LC”) typically functions as conditional payment rather than absolute payment, unless the contract expressly states otherwise. This distinction is significant; if a buyer takes delivery of the goods and the issuing bank fails to pay under the LC, a seller would […]

Ports are usually seen as civilian infrastructure operating in relatively predictable conditions. Few in the global maritime industry had seriously considered how commercial ports might function during a full-scale war. Over the past four years, however, Ukrainian ports have had to operate in precisely these conditions. Even before the invasion began in February 2022, navigational warnings declared the north-western part of the Black Sea unsafe […]