Short, practical notes on the matters we work on most often, written for clients, in-house teams, and counsel who want a working view rather than a textbook one.
Most of these notes are written by our founding counsel, a Master Mariner who commanded ships before coming to the Bar. They fall into two groups. The first is for seafarers and their families: unpaid wages, injury and death on board, compensation, and how to deal with shipowners and manning agencies. The second is for shipowners, insurers, cargo interests and overseas counsel: ship arrest in India, cargo claim time bars and P&I cover.
Each note is general information, not legal advice. For a question about a specific matter, please contact the firm.
A step-by-step guide for families: who must pay when a seafarer dies at sea, what documents to gather, what is owed beyond the lump…
Read note →When a seafarer dies or is badly hurt on board, the family is told there is insurance. Money settles the debt, not the question…
Read note →When a seafarer is injured, unpaid or abandoned, families often have nothing to work with. A simple checklist of the documents to leave at…
Read note →A ship can be owned by one company, managed by another, crewed through a third and recruited through an Indian agency signing "as agents".…
Read note →The one-year time bar under the Hague-Visby Rules is the single most common reason cargo claims fail in India. A working note on the…
Read note →For a foreign shipowner, trader, bunker supplier, or P&I club holding an unpaid maritime claim, the practical question is rarely whether the claim is…
Read note →Under the Admiralty Act, 2017, an Indian High Court can detain a ship in port to secure a maritime claim. The framework looks straightforward;…
Read note →Hull and machinery insurance covers the ship. P&I cover starts where H&M stops: third-party liability, crew claims and cargo. How shipowners protect themselves.
Read note →Indian seafarers serving on foreign-flag vessels have stronger legal protection than most realise. The Maritime Labour Convention and the Merchant Shipping Act together give…
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