The Admiralty Newsletter - March 23, 2026

Expert analyses of maritime law, regulatory developments, and landmark cases delivered to your inbox every week.

Last week the Gulf’s heat sent routes and lawyers scrambling: Jones Act waivers, force majeure, and disputes over routing and insurance. Beyond that we’ve got cases about refund guarantees, seaworthiness, COLREGs, and who pays when the cargo’s light.

There’s also regulatory updates from Singapore, news on the Beijing Convention, and practical guidance for ports, insurers, and shipowners: how to avoid getting your ship arrested, how to shore up war risks cover, and how to create charterparties that don’t blow up when the next flare‑up arrives.

1) Case law

1. English High Court Accepts Classification of Refund Guarantee Obligation As Innominate Term in Shipbuilding Dispute (Haynes Boone)

2. When “No Later Than” Is Not Enough: Calver J on Refund Guarantees, Conditions, Innominate Terms and Commercial Common Sense (Stephenson Harwood)

3. Shipbuilding: Commercial Court considers Refund Guarantees, Conditions and Innominate Terms (UK Defence Club)

4. Kiveli v Afina 1: Head On or Crossing Encounter? (Britannia P&I Club)

5. When draft survey prevails: Brazilian shortage claims after the ‘SEA HONEST’ judgment (Gard)

6. Judgment handed down in SLB and others v PAK and others [2026] EWHC 449 (Comm) (4 Pump Court)

7. The Maltese Falcon: When Contracts Allocate Risk, Courts Will Not Rewrite the Bargain (Haynes Boone)

2) Regulatory

1. Jones Act Waiver Issued in Response to Iran Conflict: Legal Analysis and Implications (Holland Knight)

2. Customs and Border Protection Publishes Implementation of 60-Day Jones Act Waiver as Strait of Hormuz Crisis Disrupts Energy Markets (Seward Kissel)

3. Amendments To The Merchant Shipping Act 1995 Of Singapore: Removal Of The Requirement For Bill Of Sale Endorsement (Stephenson Harwood)

4. The Beijing Convention: what it means for shipping debts and judgments (Hill Dickinson)

5. US ease-off on Russia sanctions will make no difference for most (Lloyd’s List)

6. Trump’s Jones Act waiver raises complaints — but will it be challenged? (TradeWinds)

3) News & Opinion

1. “Regulatory Unfitness to Trade”: The New Seaworthiness Frontier in Decarbonisation Disputes (Part I – CII) (Arun Kasi)

2. Persian Gulf recurring issues (BDM)

3. From Hormuz to Gibraltar: why conflict-driven shipping stress may end in more ship arrests (ISOLAS)

4. Key considerations: Time bars in inland and coastal shipping in Australia (Kennedys)

5. Movement through the Strait of Hormuz muddies the waters on force majeure (Stephenson Harwood)

6. Geopolitical Tensions and Maritime Risk | Why Strategic Ship Registration Matters More Than Ever (A.G. Paphitis & Co.)

7. Iran War triggers a reshaped marine insurance risk landscape (Kennedys)

8. Ports and terminals feel the strain of the war in Iran (Kennedys)

9. How The Iran War Has Snarled Global Oil & Gas Shipping (Law 360)

10. Strait of Hormuz status puts seafarer repatriation obligations on shipowners (Lloyd’s List)

11. Time Charterers: limiting the scope of the implied indemnity (Steamship)

12. Sunk by the small print: onerous clauses in marine insurance (Kennedys)