Shipping & International Trade

The Shipping and International Trade Group of ACAS-Law is dedicated to advancing the business interests and objectives of participants in the maritime industry based on a pragmatic analysis of legal and commercial issues. The Group's central orientation is working closely with the firm’s clients, with a view to understanding their business needs and providing timely, cost effective services with a high degree of professionalism.

The Group's work spans the full range of admiralty, shipping and international trade and marine insurance laws. The Group provides representation and advice on a broad range of maritime transactions and in adversarial proceedings including matters such as cargo loss and damage claims, collisions and other maritime casualties, resolution of charter disputes and hire claims, freight and other sums due under contracts of affreightment, application of the Hague/Hague Visby and Hamburg Rules, arrest and release of vessels, mareva and anton piller injunctions, marine insurance claims, general average, oil pollution, P & I and FD & D claims, the sale, purchase, mortgage, registration and financing of ships and the establishment of shipping companies. The Group also renders legal and advisory services to its clients in the offshore service industry particularly with respect to requirements of the local content laws viz the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act and the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act. The Group successfully prosecuted the first celebrated landmark case under the Cabotage Act.

As a result of the central orientation of ACAS-Law as a corporate and commercial practice, our in-depth knowledge of commercial issues and our broad commercial client base ensures that our shipping industry clients are provided with the best corporate and commercial representation to complement our shipping law specialisation.