Recommendations for maritime arbitration

LET’S GET STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. CASES OF MARITIME ARBITRATION ARE SIMPLY NOT MUCH FUN AT ALL. THERE ARE NO WINNERS. AND YET UNFORTUNATELY, COMPANIES IN THE MARITIME SECTOR SOMETIMES ALSO GO TO COURT. IF YOU ARE ABOUT TO START AN ARBITRATION, READ THE FOLLOWING TIPS BEFORE YOU COMMENCE.

First of all, make sure to grab your calculator. Do you perhaps disagree with a supplier or a client? You certainly have every right to do so, but bear in mind that the other party thinks they are right as well. How can you go about it? Should you simply go to court and hope for the best? Stop right there! Before startng an arbitraton, take out your calculator (preferably together with the other party) and ask yourself the following questons: – What is the fnancial volume of the contents of the case? – What are the costs of the employees required to properly support your case? – Due to the arbitraton, how many manhours (expressed in euros) will you be missing for other projects? – What are the expected lawyer fees?

You should as a maritme company consider how much of the budget is lef to work with afer subtractng employee costs, missing man-hours, and lawyer fees from the case’s fnancial volume. The answer is usually nihil.

This part is ofen overlooked, but ever so important. Imagine your case does lead to arbitraton, then what do you need to know? Firstly, cases of arbitraton take a long tme and processes are slow. Secondly, it is important to check whether you have sufcient experience to guide an arbitraton case, because your lawyer will not do this for you. A lawyer will only support you with the case’s legal aspects. The advice is to hire an experienced entty to handle your maritme arbitraton project management. Work with an entty that understands both the complex (technical) maritme and the legal language to ensure that the whole process runs smoothly and is as clear to you as possible.

You don’t want to start complex and long processes that will cost a fortune. In order to understand what lawyer fees entail, let’s explore how arbitraton works and why it takes so long. First, a court must be appointed to review the arbitraton. That alone can take months. The court obviously needs to know the exact nature of the dispute, which is why you will, together with maritme legal experts, need to draw up the exact list of issues. You would think that the court will rapidly make a decision afer this. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The court will put maximum pressure on you and the opposing party to frst come to an agreement. This agreement can sometmes take years. And yes, your lawyers, the court, and the maritme legal experts won’t stop sending you invoices during this tme. The costs can add up to hundreds of euros per person per hour.

But it can be done. You can have success within just one day. Above all, it is important to frst discuss your dispute with an external adviser who can actually assess the case and advise you on the best route to sail within just a day. Companies like the Synergy Partner can assist you here. And if the dispute comes to arbitraton, make sure that your maritme arbitraton management is up to date.