Apart from insurance and reinsurance, shipping and admiralty practice was the other foundational pillar when the Firm commenced practice.

The Firm thus has a long history of being involved in shipping and admiralty practice, which traverse multiple areas, such as cargo claims, charterparty disputes, collision claims, oil and gas disputes, marine insurance, etc.

The litigation teams in the shipping and admiralty practice in the Firm have handled and continue to handle substantial and complex admiralty disputes representing major clients.

The Firm is credited with establishing many landmark decisions in Shipping and Admiralty cases. Whether it is to undertake investigations and locate the missing ship ‘VIRA 11’ in Kampong Som in 1979 and then successfully apply to adduce fresh evidence of its discovery in the Singapore Court of Appeal or to successfully claim for the loss of the vessel ‘ICL VIKRAMAN’ with all its crew and cargo, in a collision in the Straits of Malacca or to defeat the application of the Merchant Shipping Act tonnage limitation in a substantial claim brought by Sabah Shell against the Owners of ‘BORCOS TAKDIR’, the litigation team of the Firm has ‘walked the talk’.

Of particular significance in the Firm’s shipping practice is the involvement of the Firm as lead counsel in several substantial and complex admiralty actions in Malaysia, in which the Firm represented leading oil majors in claims arising from damage to offshore oil production and exploration facilities including subsea pipelines and associated parts.

The leading oil majors the Firm represented as lead counsel in such cases included Shell, Petronas, and Newfield Peninsula.

Another notable achievement for the shipping litigation team of the Firm was when it successfully argued before the Singapore Court of Appeal that underwriters who had provided workman compensation coverage for a stevedoring company, was entitled to invoke the relevant provisions of the Workman Compensation statute to bring an admiralty action directly against the ship.

In handling such admiralty proceedings, the litigation teams are adept in undertaking all stages of the proceedings to protect the clients’ interests including ship arrest or release, procuring security for the claim, formulating strategies in pleadings and evidential matters, and presenting arguments in Court at trials and applications.

The accolades that the shipping team has received include being ‘extremely committed, reliable and professional’ and ‘positively detailed and meticulously organised’

Our team is experienced in handling non-contentious matters as we regularly advise our clients on various transactional matters including sale and purchase of ships, ship management, and shipbuilding. We work closely with our corporate team to assist our clients in financing, securing capital, restructuring, and mergers and acquisitions aspects of a shipping transaction.

By the very nature of this practice area, the litigation teams in the shipping and admiralty practice have handled and continue to handle disputes across the region, especially in major oil and gas, and pollution claims.

Other than shipping and admiralty practice, the team has also been involved and continues to be involved in aviation work. A particular focus of the aviation work involving the Firm is in respect of cargo claims and passenger claims.

The Firm has a long history of handling air cargo claims, particularly representing underwriters, with many such claims traversing multiple jurisdictions. As such, the team regularly deals with conflicts of law issues in aviation claims.

As for passenger claims, a notable case that the team has handled involved claims arising from an air crash of a Malaysian Airline System carrier in the State of Johor, Malaysia.

Some Reported Cases:

• Kota Pahlawan [1981 1982] SLR 88
• The Epar [1985] 2 MLJ 3
• The Mediterranea [1986] MLJ Lxxix
• The Dong Min [1986] 2 MLJ 406
• Owners Of The Ship Or Vessel Kusu Island v Owners Of Cargo Lately Laden On Board The Ship Or Vessel Brani Island [1989] 3 MLJ 257 **
• The Asian Plutus; Asian Plutus, Owners of Cargo Laden on Board v Asian Plutus, Owners of & Other Interested Persons [1990] 2 MLJ 449 *
• The Thomaseverett [1992] 2 SLR 1068 **
• Lim & Sons (Pte) Ltd v Owners of and Other Person interested in the Ship or Vessel Trade Fair [1994] 1 SLR 704 *
• The Trade Fair [1994] 3 SLR 704 (High Court)
• Owners of the Ship or Vessel Trade Fair v Lim & Sons (Pte) Ltd; The Trade Fair [1994] 3 SLR 827 [Court Of Appeal] **
• Yusen Air & Sea Service (S) Pte Ltd v KLM Royal Dutch Airlines [1999] 4 SLR 21 [Court Of Appeal] *
• Yusen Air & Sea Service (S) Pte Ltd v Changi International Airport Services Pte Ltd [1999] 4 SLR 135
• Uni France Offshore Engineering Pte Ltd v Owners of and/or Other Persons Interested in the Ship or Vessel Cotan Challenger, The Cotan Challenger: [1996] 1 SLR 297
• Lotus M [1997] 2 SLR 570
• Ang Kim Soon v Sunray Marine Pte Ltd [1997] 3 SLR 619
• Lotus M [1998] 1 SLR 1 [Court Of Appeal] **
• Lotus M (No. 2) [1998] 2 SLR 145 [Court Of Appeal] **
• The Botic [1999] 4 SLR 749
• The Hyundai Fortune [2004] 4 SLR(R) 548 *
• The Inai Selasih (ex Geopoted X) [2005] 4 SLR 1
• The Inai Selasih (ex Geopoted X) (Appeal) [2006] 2 SLR 181 *
• Sarawak Shell Bhd v The Owners or other persons interested in the ship or vessel The Red Gold and another action [2011] 1 MLJ 239 *
• The Owners or other persons interested in the ship or vessel The Red Gold v Sarawak Shell Bhd and another appeal [2012] 4 MLJ 729
• Sabah Shell Petroleum Co Ltd & Anor v The Owners of and/or any other persons interested in the ship or vessel the Borcos Takdir [2012] 5 MLJ 515 **
• Newfield Peninsula Malaysia Inc v The Owners Of The Ship Or Vessel Tanjung Pinang 1 [2012] 1 LNS 1084 *
• The Jeil Crystal [2021] SGHC 292 *

NOTE: ** Landmark Decisions; * Notable Decisions