The Admiralty Newsletter - 5 May 2026
A weekly briefing featuring insights from shipping's leading lawyers covering regulatory updates, emerging risks, and the practical implications of new case law.
Contracts continue to be stress-tested, with insights on hardship, allocation, and “blocking and trapping.” Regulators have been busy too: labour-law consultations, port-entry inspections, and the slow march of emissions trading on both sides of the Channel.
Courts and commentators are wrestling with new opinions on laytime and invalid NORs, punctual hire, repossession timing, and liability limits from Brazil to South Africa. Not to mention China’s Maritime Code 2026, BIMCO’s new CO2 charterparty wording, contaminated fuels, cargo liquefaction, and even alleged benchmark distortion.
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Case law
Commencement of laytime and invalid NORs: revisiting The Happy Day (IISTL)
MV Tai Harmony v Sure Success Steamship S.A (Clyde & Co)
Redefining package limitation in the United States (MMWR)
Songa Pride: when and where must owners repossess (Steamship Mutual)
ITIC warning to marine surveyors following US$30,000 off-spec grain cargo dispute (IIMS)
Mercuria sues Baltic Exchange over distortion of key tanker-rate benchmark in Middle East war (Tradewinds)
Teekay Shipping (India) Private Limited vs. Union of India and Ors (Bose Mitraco)
Regulatory
Shipowners’ liability limits in Brazil (Steamship Mutual)
China Maritime Code 2026: key changes and considerations for carriers (NorthStandard)
China’s Maritime Code 2026: sea of change (Penningtons Manches Cooper)
Key amendments to China’s new Maritime Code (Skuld)
EU’s 20th sanctions package against Russia: further maritime enforcement (Penningtons Manches Cooper)
Convergence and divergence: the UK and EU emissions trading schemes for maritime transport (Stephenson Harwood)
UK ETS is on the horizon (UK Defence)
Share your views on UK maritime labour laws with the MCA (Nautilus International)
Jones Act waiver raises potential U.S. federal income tax issues (Seward & Kissel)
Chartering of support vessels – Competition review of ANTAQ rule (Pinheiro Neto Advogados)
The new Maritime Action Plan and public-private partnerships (Squire Patton Boggs)
News & Opinion
Navigating DOJ’s new corporate enforcement landscape: key considerations (environmental) (Blank Rome)
Navigating US arrival guide: vessels, port entry and inspections (arrival) (Blank Rome)
What next for the Straits of Hormuz? (BDM Law)
20,000 stranded seafarers in the Strait of Hormuz face missile fears, exhaustion and isolation (The Conversation)
Why are maritime laws failing to secure the seas? (Al Jazeera)
Hormuz crisis erodes global maritime legal order, Kuala Lumpur forum hears (Lloyd’s List)
Strait of Hormuz blocking and trapping, and war risk cover (Hill Dickinson)
When the Strait closes, your contracts get tested (Foley & Lardner)
Open waters, open questions: allocation and priority after the Hormuz crisis (Squire Patton Boggs)
When supply chains break: force majeure, hardship and the sulfuric acid crisis (Akin Gump)
Regulatory relief and evolving force majeure (KSA) (Clyde & Co)
Why are 110 certified Indian ship recycling yards frozen out by Brussels? (BIMCO)
BIMCO publishes standard wording for liquefied CO₂ charterparties (Lloyd’s List)
Libya’s growing fuel smuggling empire starts to shift from tankers to containers (Lloyd’s List)
Clay liquefaction: a sticky risk to bulk cargo safety (Skuld)
Marine fuels contaminated with unwanted chemical compounds (Skuld)
Ten years on: has the Insurance Act 2015 actually delivered for policyholders? (Fenchurch Law)
Reconnaissance: legal due diligence lessons (Blank Rome)
On the horizon: 2026 LNG in turbulent times (SANDS)
American steel: with US fuel prices so high, what has the Jones Act waiver actually accomplished? (Tradewinds)
Clyde & Co Hamburg spins off in full office to launch Noordenjones (Tradewinds)
Financing of German Shipowners by Foreign Banks (Noordenjones)
SBSB managing partner John Schouest ranked among legal industry’s top leaders (SBSB Law)
Chartwell attorney Elisha Sullivan named Maritime Attorney of the Year at the 2026 Florida Legal Awards (Chartwell Law)
GrayRobinson shareholder Jim Moseley named president of the Maritime Law Association of the United States (GrayRobinson)
Introducing our new partner: Margot Wastnage (Tatham Law)
Punctual payment of time charter hire: case law and practical guidance (Hill Dickinson)