The Admiralty Newsletter - 21 April, 2026

A weekly briefing featuring insights from shipping's leading lawyers covering regulatory updates, emerging risks, and the practical implications of new case law.

The week’s through-line continues to be conflict-adjacent navigation risk: transit-passage friction, sanctions exposure, and the toxic idea of paying “tolls”. That operational stress is then reappearing as opex: war surcharges, force majeure arguments, performance disputes, and late-redelivery damages.

Alongside the firefighting sits the slow grind of compliance and policy: emissions rules shaping S&P, MLC readiness, US-flag incentives and waivers, plus a Washington budget pitched as maritime muscle.

Case law

• When Local Law Diverges from the Global Maritime Order: The MV Wakashio Judgment and What It Means for Shipping in Mauritius (Appleby)

• UK High Court Clarifies Key Provisions of the Hague-Visby Rules (Skrine)

• The Skyros is the limit for owners when it comes to late redelivery damages…for now (Watson Farley & Williams)

Regulatory

• Will the Strait of Hormuz Mark the Return of the ‘Cannonball Rule’? (Gorrissen Federspiel)

• The impact of emissions regulations on S&P transactions (Stephenson Harwood)

• Jones Act Shipping Rules Relaxed Under New 60-Day Waiver (Haynes Boone)

• Preparing Passenger Ships for MLC Compliance in 2027 Amid Heightened Security Risks (Holland & Knight)

• US Limitation of Liability Act: Meeting the Covered Small Passenger Boat Exception (Steamship)

• White House Unveils Historic Maritime Budget: What It Means for America’s Shipping Future (Holland & Knight)

• What the FMC’s Rejection of War Surcharges Means for Your Supply Chain (International Trade & Supply Chain Insights)

• SUPERMAN 2025 – Key Changes and Practical Considerations (Clyde & Co)

• Maritime union proposes tax break to tempt more cargo onto US-flag ships (TradeWinds)

• Approval of the framework law on maritime space planning and management in Timor-Leste (VdA)

• Book review: The Agreement of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (Law Gazette)

News & Opinion

• Persian Gulf latest: Can I pay a toll to the IRGC to get my ship out and what are the legal risks?(BDM)

• Speed and performance claims: Underperformance without good weather - navigating benchmark conditions (Skuld)

• Abandonment of Seafarers: When Legal Duty Is Not Enough (Fichte & Co)

• Strait of Hormuz: why the US and Iran are sailing in very different legal waters (The Conversation)

• 2025 Year-end hull reports (Cefor)

• Is the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait Next After the Strait of Hormuz? (Esenyel Partners)

• Oil industry scheme may have to pay for uninsured shadow fleet spill (Lloyd’s List)

• Commercial Maritime Nuclear Power: Mobile Energy and Propulsion at Scale (Orrick)

• Penningtons Manches Cooper expands Singapore team with hire of master mariner (Penningtons Manches Cooper)

• Is it Force Majeure? (Simms Showers)

• Stephenson Harwood strengthens its Maritime, Trade & Offshore Practice with arrival of Charles Lockwood (Stephenson Harwood)

• From the tanker wars to the Hormuz: Lawyer Paul Dean opens up on advising clients in times ofcrisis (TradeWinds)

• American Steel: How do you get king cargo to fall in line and choose US-flag ships? (TradeWinds)

• Owners urged to use new sale-and-purchase form amid sanctions and green fuel revisions(TradeWinds)

• The Strait of Hormuz Crisis - Charterparty, Arbitration and Risk Allocation (Haiwen & Partners)

• Blockading in the Persian Gulf: Navigating uncertainty in shipping law and marine insurance (DWF Group)