Richard Smith
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10 Aug 2026
ITLOS Ruling: A Landmark Defense of Freedom of Navigation
In the largest penalty the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) has ever levied, a Special Chamber ruled unanimously against Equatorial Guinea on May 27, 2026, ordering it to pay over €14 million in damages to the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the unlawful seizure of a commercial tanker and detention of its multinational crew. The ruling in the M/T Heroic Idun (No. 2) case represents a watershed moment for international maritime law…
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27 Jul 2022
Financing and Bankability of Offshore Wind Vessels
In our first article we highlighted some of the key contractual considerations facing shipowners looking to construct and charter offshore wind vessels. In this article we explore some of the considerations concerning the financing and bankability of offshore wind vessels. We have seen a diverse group of financiers interested in financing vessels in the offshore wind sector and, while the nature of the financing available will depend to a large extent on the employment of the vessel…
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16 Jul 2021
Offshore Wind & Shipping – Importance of Interplay Between Shipbuilding Contracts and Charters
While 2020 proved to be a challenging year for offshore oil and gas markets, the same cannot be said about offshore renewables, which saw substantial growth."It is expected that a number of offshore support vessels (“OSVs”) and crew boats will be redeployed from the offshore oil and gas sector to service the offshore wind industry and that existing offshore wind installation vessels will be upgraded…
