Ship­ping

We sound out
and think la­te­ral­ly.

LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA is one of the lea­ding law firms in the ship­ping sec­tor in Ger­ma­ny.

Our ex­pe­ri­en­ced la­wy­ers have a com­pre­hen­si­ve know­ledge of the in­dus­try and of the mar­ket as well as very ac­ti­ve con­nec­tions to ma­ri­ti­me law ex­perts world­wi­de and are thus ab­le to pro­vi­de first-class ad­vice across the full ma­ri­ti­me law spec­trum, in­clu­ding ca­su­al­ties, sal­va­ge, ship buil­ding, ship ma­nage­ment, sa­le and purcha­se and ship fi­nan­ce.

Our re­co­g­nis­ed ex­per­ti­se in ship­ping law and cor­po­ra­te law en­ables us to of­fer 360° ad­vice to ship­ping com­pa­nies, co­ve­ring the en­ti­re life cy­cle of a ship from the plan­ning and fi­nan­cing pha­ses right up to a vessel’s re­cy­cling.

Our ex­perts in ship­ping and ma­ri­ti­me law form the team of aut­hors of Cham­bers Glo­bal Prac­ti­ce Gui­de Ship­ping 2019 for Ger­ma­ny.

Ar­rest

In cer­tain cir­cum­s­tances a cre­di­tor is en­tit­led to ar­rest a ship in or­der to se­cu­re its cla­im.

Ship ar­rest is a long-stan­ding and in­te­gral part of the ship­ping law prac­ti­ce at LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA.

Sin­ce the re­form of Ger­man ma­ri­ti­me law which took ef­fect in 2013, the ar­rest of ships has gai­ned in im­portance in Ger­ma­ny. We co­ope­ra­te clo­se­ly wi­th num­e­rous law firms in all si­gni­fi­cant port ci­ties and ju­ris­dic­tions world­wi­de in or­der to ob­tain or de­fend ship ar­rests in for­eign count­ries.

  • Ac­ting for a Ger­man ship­ping com­pa­ny to as­sert a lar­ge cla­im for loss of char­ter hi­re un­der a long-term time char­ter agree­ment, in va­rious par­al­lel pro­cee­dings con­duc­ted in Eng­land, South Af­ri­ca, Aus­tra­lia, Chi­na, Sin­ga­po­re and Ma­lay­sia. In this con­text, ba­sed on our ad­vice, rights of li­en we­re exer­cis­ed in se­ve­ral ca­ses and ap­pli­ca­ti­ons fi­led for the ar­rest of ships. Com­plex is­sues had to be re­sol­ved un­der Eng­lish law as to re­pu­dia­to­ry brea­ches of con­tract and un­der South Af­ri­can law as to ques­ti­ons of as­so­cia­ti­on of ves­sels for the pur­po­se of an as­so­cia­ted ship ar­rest.
  • Ac­ting for a ship­ping com­pa­ny to de­fend lo­an re­pay­ment claims amoun­ting to se­ve­ral hundred mil­li­on US dol­lars and brin­ging da­ma­ges claims against the ori­gi­nal len­der; coor­di­na­ti­on of all le­gal work in the va­rious ar­rest ju­ris­dic­tions.

In­land
Na­vi­ga­ti­on

LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA is one of the lea­ding law firms in Ger­ma­ny in the in­land wa­ter­ways ship­ping sec­tor.

Wi­th our ex­pe­ri­en­ced team built around Dr. Jo­han­nes Trost - men­tio­ned in The Le­gal 500 as an “emi­nent ex­pert on in­land wa­ter­ways ship­ping” - we are ab­le to hand­le high­ly com­plex and con­tro­ver­si­al ca­ses.

We have par­ti­cu­lar ex­pe­ri­ence in the fields of ca­su­al­ties, fire, cap­si­zing and sal­va­ge as well as wreck re­m­oval and en­vi­ron­men­tal da­ma­ge. We al­so re­gu­lar­ly hand­le ca­ses con­cer­ning the con­ta­mi­na­ti­on of car­go and other car­go da­ma­ge as well as tech­ni­cal da­ma­ge (coa­ting, cor­ro­si­on, vi­bra­ti­on). We are one of the few law firms in Ger­ma­ny wi­th spe­ci­fic ex­pe­ri­ence of es­tab­li­shing li­mi­ta­ti­on of lia­bi­li­ty funds (CLNI) and li­ti­ga­ting is­sues as to the scope of the li­mi­ta­ti­on the­se funds pro­vi­de.

Our suc­cess in ac­ting for our cli­ents is ba­sed on a pro­found know­ledge of the AVB terms for the insu­rance of in­land hull risks and know­ledge re­sul­ting from deal­ing wi­th ma­ny claims for P&I clubs and hull insu­rance com­pa­nies as well as a de­tail­ed un­der­stan­ding of tech­ni­cal and nau­ti­cal mat­ters.

  • We have ad­vi­sed a pri­va­te equi­ty com­pa­ny in con­nec­tion wi­th the purcha­se of 13 ri­ver crui­se ves­sels and the foun­ding of a joint-ven­ture ship ma­nage­ment com­pa­ny. We ad­vi­sed bo­th in re­la­ti­on to the in­vest­ment in­to the new ven­ture and on ship­ping law mat­ters such as re-flag­ging, char­ter, sa­le and han­do­ver of the ves­sels; we car­ri­ed out the due di­li­gence wi­th spe­cial re­gard to ship­ping law aspects.
  • Cap­si­zing of the tank bar­ge “ENA 2” in Ham­burg.
  • Pol­lu­ti­on and li­mi­ta­ti­on fund “AN.KA”.
  • Cap­si­zing of the tank bar­ge “WALD­HOF” on the ri­ver Rhi­ne.
  • Ex­plo­si­on of the tank bar­ge “AL­PS­RAY” in Lin­gen.
  • Cap­si­zing and sal­va­ge of the bar­ge “LAR­VIK ROCK”.
  • Sin­king of the work boat “ZAN­DER” off Nor­der­ney.
  • Ex­plo­si­on on board the tank bar­ge “JU­LI­US RÜT­GERS” in Duis­burg.

Ma­ri­ti­me
ca­su­al­ties /
Sal­va­ge

Ma­ri­ti­me ca­su­al­ties and sal­va­ge are part of the co­re are­as of com­pe­tence of LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA.

Our in­di­vi­du­al teams are de­ploy­ed fle­xi­bly and are ex­pe­ri­en­ced. So­me of our la­wy­ers al­so have nau­ti­cal qua­li­fi­ca­ti­ons. This en­ables us to prepa­re the ground for the ap­pro­pria­te stra­te­gic de­cis­i­ons and se­cu­re va­luable evi­dence for la­ter use in court, du­ring the par­ti­cu­lar­ly im­portant in­iti­al re­ac­tion pha­se. This in­cludes sea pro­tests as well as the ta­king of state­ments from crew mem­bers, the se­cu­ring of do­cu­ments and VDR re­cords and can ex­tend if ne­ces­sa­ry to the ar­rest of sea-go­ing or non-sea-go­ing ves­sels as well as to the es­tab­lish­ment of lia­bi­li­ty funds.

We aim to avo­id li­ti­ga­ti­on.  Ho­we­ver this is not al­ways pos­si­ble, espe­ci­al­ly as com­plex ca­ses ty­pi­cal­ly in­vol­ve flag­ged out ves­sels and off­shore com­pa­nies. From the out­set, we the­r­e­fo­re prepa­re for pos­si­ble le­gal pro­cee­dings.

We are ex­pe­ri­en­ced wi­th the es­sen­ti­al coor­di­na­ti­on work in­vol­ving port aut­ho­ri­ties, the po­li­ce and en­vi­ron­men­tal aut­ho­ri­ties as well as the me­dia in or­der to mi­ni­mi­se con­se­quen­ti­al da­ma­ge in­clu­ding re­pu­ta­tio­nal harm.

  • We have ad­vi­sed and re­pre­sen­ted a US ship ow­ner and its insurer in re­la­ti­on to Ger­man law lia­bi­li­ty is­sues ari­sing out of a fire da­ma­ge on­board a Ro­Ro ship and in the li­ti­ga­ti­on in Ger­ma­ny; we have sup­port­ed the par­al­lel US dis­co­very pro­cee­dings and me­dia­ti­on pro­cess.
  • “LIS­CO GLO­RIA” – De­s­truc­tion by fire off Kiel.
  • Cap­si­zing of the tank bar­ge “ENA 2” in Ham­burg.
  • Pol­lu­ti­on and li­mi­ta­ti­on fund “AN.KA”.
  • Cap­si­zing of the tank bar­ge “WALD­HOF” on the ri­ver Rhi­ne.
  • Ex­plo­si­on of the tank bar­ge “AL­PS­RAY” in Lin­gen.
  • Cap­si­zing and sal­va­ge of the bar­ge “LAR­VIK ROCK”.
  • Sin­king of the work boat “ZAN­DER” off Nor­der­ney.
  • Ro­pax ves­sel – Black-out on board while in-bound to Lü­beck and re­sul­ting in da­ma­ge to shore in­stal­la­ti­ons.
  • Ge­ne­ral car­go ves­sel – col­li­si­on on the way in­to port in Na­mi­bia.
  • Col­li­si­on bet­ween four ves­sels in the port of Ham­burg.
  • Col­li­si­on bet­ween an over­ta­ken ves­sel and a dry-dock.
  • Col­li­si­on bet­ween two ves­sels off Bel­gi­um – We act for ow­ners in the en­suing li­mi­ta­ti­on pro­cee­dings in Ger­ma­ny and in va­rious sa­tel­li­te pro­cee­dings sur­roun­ding the col­li­si­on.
  • We have ac­ted for the shipow­ners in dis­pu­ted GA pro­cee­dings in front of the Ham­burg courts to ob­tain pay­ment of cargo’s share of the GA ad­jus­t­ment.
  • Fire on board the RO­PAX “NOR­MAN AT­LAN­TIC” wi­th si­gni­fi­cant per­so­nal in­ju­ry.
  • Col­li­si­on of a car­go ves­sel wi­th a rail­way bridge.

Clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on

For ma­ny ye­ars LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA has ad­vi­sed ma­jor ship­ping clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on so­cie­ties in Ger­ma­ny com­pre­hen­si­ve­ly wi­th re­gard to their le­gal mat­ters.

Our work ran­ges from the draf­ting and fi­na­li­sa­ti­on of con­tracts (clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on con­tracts, stan­dard terms and con­di­ti­ons) to re­pre­sen­ta­ti­on in li­ti­ga­ti­on be­fo­re courts of law and ar­bi­tra­ti­on tri­bu­nals.

  • We have ac­ted for clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on so­cie­ties de­fen­ding lia­bi­li­ty claims con­nec­ted to their ac­ti­vi­ties, in­clu­ding new­buil­ding cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of Chi­ne­se-built ves­sels.
  • We have ad­vi­sed va­rious clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on so­cie­ties on their terms of busi­ness and clas­si­fi­ca­ti­on agree­ments.

Deep Sea
Mi­ning

The wi­de-ran­ging com­pe­tence of our la­wy­ers in the field of off­shore plant con­s­truc­tion and the re­le­vant in­ter­na­tio­nal re­gu­la­ti­ons as well as the UN Con­ven­ti­on on the Law of the Sea (UN­CLOS) makes LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA the ide­al part­ner for le­gal ques­ti­ons of deep-sea ex­plo­ra­ti­on and deep sea mi­ning.

We ad­vi­se cli­ents on is­sues of con­tract draf­ting and fi­na­li­sa­ti­on, for ex­am­p­le wi­th re­gard to ship­buil­ding agree­ments, char­ter and ship ma­nage­ment agree­ments as well as the re­qui­re­ments of the In­ter­na­tio­nal Seabed Aut­ho­ri­ty. We have spe­cia­list know­ledge in pro­vi­ding le­gal gui­dance per­tai­ning to the con­s­truc­tion and ope­ra­ti­on of pro­to­ty­pes and spe­cial-pur­po­se ships. We have the ex­per­ti­se to re­pre­sent cli­ents in dis­pu­tes con­cer­ning deep-sea ex­plo­ra­ti­on and deep sea mi­ning, in­clu­ding in con­ten­tious and dis­pu­te re­so­lu­ti­on pro­cee­dings un­der the UN Con­ven­ti­on on the Law of the Sea.

Ship­buil­ding /
Sa­le & Purcha­se /
Ship Ma­nage­ment

The la­wy­ers at LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA have very sub­stan­ti­al ex­pe­ri­ence of con­tracts for the con­s­truc­tion, sa­le & purcha­se, and ma­nage­ment of ships, un­der bo­th Ger­man and Eng­lish law.

We as­sist our cli­ents wi­th the draf­ting of ship buil­ding agree­ments for all kinds of ships (in­clu­ding spe­cial-pur­po­se ships and me­ga­yachts).  When is­sues ari­se du­ring the cour­se of a pro­ject, we pro­vi­de gui­dance, in­clu­ding for the amend­ment or re­scis­si­on of ship buil­ding agree­ments. We as­sist in en­for­cing or de­fea­ting re­sul­ting claims in court and in­ter­na­tio­nal ar­bi­tra­ti­on.

We of­fer our cli­ents com­pre­hen­si­ve le­gal gui­dance in con­nec­tion wi­th the sa­le and purcha­se of ves­sels in­clu­ding yachts for pri­va­te and com­mer­cial use. Our ad­vice co­vers for ex­am­p­le the nego­tia­ti­on of the me­mo­ran­dum of agree­ment, re­gis­tra­ti­on and par­al­lel (bare­boat) re­gis­tra­ti­on in na­tio­nal and for­eign re­gis­ters, terms of use. We do not ad­vi­se on tax mat­ters.

Owing to the in­cre­asing de­mands pla­ced on ship ma­na­gers, ship ma­nage­ment con­tracts are be­co­ming in­cre­asing­ly com­plex, in­clu­ding wi­th re­gard to cre­wing. We have in-depth le­gal know­ledge and prac­ti­cal ex­pe­ri­ence which enable us to pro­vi­de the best pos­si­ble sup­port to our cli­ents in all le­gal mat­ters re­la­ting to ship ma­nage­ment.

  • We have ad­vi­sed a Ger­man ship­ping group in con­nec­tion wi­th its can­cel­la­ti­on of a se­ries of eight ship­buil­ding con­tracts en­te­red in­to wi­th an Asi­an shi­py­ard and ac­ted for the cli­ent in the en­suing suc­cessful Lon­don ar­bi­tra­ti­on for the re­fund of a very sub­stan­ti­al amount re­pre­sen­ting the in­st­al­ments paid un­der the con­tracts, plus in­te­rest, and in re­co­ve­ring the award­ed sums un­der the re­fund gua­ran­tees.
  • We have ad­vi­sed a Ger­man shipow­ner in con­nec­tion wi­th its can­cel­la­ti­on of a se­ries of six ship­buil­ding con­tracts wi­th an In­di­an shi­py­ard and suc­cessful re­co­very of the lar­ge amount due un­der the re­fund gua­ran­tees. The mat­ter in­vol­ved com­plex cor­po­ra­te law aspects as the shi­py­ard had a sta­ke in the buy­ing en­ti­ties.
  • We have as­sis­ted a cli­ent in the struc­tu­ring, draf­ting and nego­tia­ti­on of a ship­buil­ding con­tract for a ma­jor pro­to­ty­pe off­shore wind in­stal­la­ti­on ves­sel.
  • We have draf­ted and nego­tia­ted for our cli­ent the ship­buil­ding con­tract for a spe­cial-pur­po­se RO­PAX fer­ry for the North Sea is­land trade.
  • We have draf­ted and nego­tia­ted the ship­buil­ding con­tract for a very lar­ge sai­ling yacht (over 70 m) and ad­vi­sed the cli­ent on the com­plex, mul­ti­ju­ris­dic­tion­al se­cu­ri­ty struc­tu­re which was put in place.
  • We have struc­tu­red for a cli­ent the se­cond-hand purcha­se of a su­per yacht wi­th the si­mul­ta­neous sa­le of the client’s exis­ting yacht in part-ex­ch­an­ge.
  • We have re­pre­sen­ted a for­eign sup­pli­er of high va­lue com­pon­ents in va­rious me­ga yacht pro­jects and as­sis­ted in the draf­ting and nego­tia­ti­on of the sup­p­ly con­tracts.
  • We have ac­ted for the cash buy­er of a group of ves­sels from a pro­vi­sio­nal ad­mi­nis­tra­tor in in­sol­ven­cy and ad­vi­sed our cli­ent on the spe­cial risks in this ty­pe of tran­sac­tion. The mat­ter al­so in­vol­ved the trans­fer of char­ter con­tracts.
  • We have ac­ted for a ma­jor Ger­man ship­ping group in con­nec­tion wi­th the re­pea­ted com­plex res­truc­tu­ring of the mul­ti-laye­red fi­nan­ce of a por­ti­on of its fleet.
  • We have ad­vi­sed a cli­ent in re­spect of the se­cu­ri­ty struc­tu­re to be put in place in con­nec­tion wi­th the sourcing of equi­ty on the ca­pi­tal mar­kets for a fleet of ves­sels.
  • We have ad­vi­sed cli­ents in con­nec­tion wi­th the sa­le of va­rious high-va­lue ves­sels in­to long-term lea­se struc­tures fi­nan­ced on the Chi­ne­se mar­ket.
  • We have ad­vi­sed va­rious cli­ents on de­tail­ed ques­ti­ons of ship ma­nage­ment un­der so­phisti­ca­ted ma­nage­ment agree­ments in the con­tai­ner trade, in­clu­ding is­sues in­vol­ving cre­wing ar­ran­ge­ments, au­di­ting, KPIs and spe­cial exit rights un­der fleet agree­ments.
  • We have ad­vi­sed cli­ents on a so­phisti­ca­ted long-term OPEX par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on sche­me in ship ma­nage­ment con­tracts and on the ef­fect of res­truc­tu­ring on this sche­me.

Ship Fi­nan­cing

LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA has a team of la­wy­ers wi­th sub­stan­ti­al ex­pe­ri­ence in ma­ny fields re­la­ting to ship fi­nan­cing.

This ran­ges from the pre­pa­ra­ti­on and nego­tia­ti­on of the lo­an agree­ment and se­cu­ri­ty do­cu­men­ta­ti­on for tra­di­tio­nal ship mor­tga­ge lo­ans to the struc­tu­ring of equi­ty fi­nan­ce and ad­vi­sing on al­ter­na­ti­ve fleet fi­nan­cing mo­dels and the cor­re­spon­ding col­la­te­ral.

  • We have ad­vi­sed a Ger­man shipow­ner re­gar­ding the struc­tu­ring of se­cu­ri­ty ar­ran­ge­ments as part of a USD 100 mil­li­on lo­an ta­ken out on the US pri­va­te equi­ty mar­ket.
  • We have ad­vi­sed ow­ners on the risks in­vol­ved in hea­vi­ly struc­tu­red lo­an fi­nan­ce do­cu­men­ta­ti­on pro­vi­ded by the len­ders.
  • We have ac­ted for a cli­ent in the set­ting up of a dou­ble-laye­red ship­ping in­vest­ment ve­hic­le con­sis­ting of an in­vest­ment fund in the Is­le of Man and a Ger­man hol­ding com­pa­ny to bund­le for­eign in­vest­ment in Ger­man ship­ping pro­jects.
  • We have ac­ted for the ow­ners of a well-known lar­ge Ger­man crui­se ship in con­nec­tion wi­th the re­fi­nan­cing of their in­vest­ment.
  • We have ac­ted for a ma­jor Ger­man ship­ping group in con­nec­tion wi­th the re­pea­ted com­plex res­truc­tu­ring of the mul­ti-laye­red fi­nan­ce of a por­ti­on of its fleet.
  • We have ac­ted for a cli­ent in the com­ple­te res­truc­tu­ring of the fi­nan­ce and se­cu­ri­ty struc­tu­re for a fleet of ni­ne ves­sels, hel­ping achie­ve a re­lease of per­so­nal lia­bi­li­ty for fi­nan­cial com­mit­ments. The mat­ter in­vol­ved com­plex is­sues un­der US law as one of the share­hol­ders had pla­ced hims­elf un­der Chap­ter 11.
  • We have ad­vi­sed a cli­ent in con­nec­tion wi­th the re­fi­nan­cing of two RO­PAX ves­sels, in­clu­ding com­plex group se­cu­ri­ty ar­ran­ge­ments.
  • We have pro­vi­ded ex­ten­si­ve ad­vice to a ma­jor li­ner ope­ra­tor re­gar­ding the fi­nan­ce of a fleet of 12 new­buil­dings.
  • We have ad­vi­sed shipow­ners in their re­n­ego­tia­ti­on of the fi­nan­cing of their fleet of cap­si­ze bul­kers wi­th the ban­king con­sor­ti­um.

Ship Re­cy­cling

LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA has ex­ten­si­ve ex­pe­ri­ence in the le­gal hand­ling of so-cal­led last voya­ge ves­sels and wi­th re­gard to the dis­mant­ling of ves­sels in ac­cordance wi­th en­vi­ron­men­tal re­gu­la­ti­ons (“Green Ship Re­cy­cling”).

Curr­ent­ly, the dis­mant­ling of ships is loo­ked at th­rough the prism of was­te ma­nage­ment laws. This will gra­du­al­ly ch­an­ge. Ac­cor­ding to the Hong Kong Con­ven­ti­on (not yet in force), ships are to be re­cy­cled in ac­cordance wi­th a spe­ci­fic re­gime by cer­ti­fied, spe­cia­li­sed ship dis­mant­ling fa­ci­li­ties. The EU Ship Re­cy­cling Re­gu­la­ti­on al­re­a­dy im­ple­ments the re­gime set out in the Hong Kong Con­ven­ti­on. Me­a­su­res for the cer­ti­fi­ca­ti­on of ship dis­mant­ling fa­ci­li­ties are im­ple­men­ted world­wi­de on the ba­sis of this mo­del.

We ad­vi­se our cli­ents com­pre­hen­si­ve­ly on the le­gal frame­work ap­pli­ca­ble to ship re­cy­cling and as­sist them wi­th the ef­fi­ci­ent struc­tu­ring and com­pli­ant rea­li­sa­ti­on of their re­cy­cling pro­jects.

  • We have ac­ted for cli­ents in the con­text of no­ti­fi­ca­ti­on pro­cee­dings un­der the was­te dis­po­sal re­gime for the green re­cy­cling out­side of the EU of a car car­ri­er fol­lo­wing a ca­su­al­ty.
  • We have ad­vi­sed cli­ents in re­spect of the ap­pli­ca­bi­li­ty of was­te dis­po­sal ru­les to the sa­le of a com­mer­cial ves­sel and the wi­th­dra­wal from ser­vice of a pas­sen­ger ves­sel.

Dry Ship­ping

Ever sin­ce the firm was es­tab­lished in 1950, one of the co­re are­as of work at LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA has be­en ship­ping law in­clu­ding ca­ses such as car­go da­ma­ge, ge­ne­ral avera­ge and char­ter par­ty dis­pu­tes.

We al­so ad­vi­se our cli­ents on an on­go­ing ba­sis when dra­wing up the terms for a bill of la­ding, when en­te­ring in­to char­ter par­ties and wi­th re­gard to ma­jor and com­plex con­tracts of car­ria­ge or af­freight­ment.

  • We act for Ger­man freight for­war­der cli­ents de­fen­ding claims for da­ma­ges brought by the trans­port ac­ci­dent insu­r­ers fol­lo­wing the loss of the car­go due to the sin­king of the “MOL COM­FORT”.
  • We have ac­ted for a cli­ent in a lar­ge cla­im for loss of hi­re un­der a long-term time char­ter in a mul­ti-ju­ris­dic­tion­al dis­pu­te in­vol­ving count­ries in­clu­ding the UK, South Af­ri­ca, Aus­tra­lia, Chi­na, Sin­ga­po­re and Ma­lay­sia. The pur­su­it of the cla­im in­vol­ved re­pea­ted­ly exer­cis­ing li­ens on sub-freight and car­ry­ing out mul­ti­ple ship ar­rests. The ca­se in­vol­ved ma­jor is­sues such as the exis­tence of a re­pu­dia­to­ry breach for non-pay­ment of hi­re un­der the char­ter and the ques­ti­on of com­mon con­trol of va­rious mem­bers of a com­plex ship­ping group for the pur­po­se of an as­so­cia­ted ship ar­rest. Com­plex stra­te­gic con­side­ra­ti­ons we­re in­vol­ved due to the in­sol­ven­cy of the char­te­rer deb­tor and the ma­ny ju­ris­dic­tions in­vol­ved. The claims and coun­ter-claims we­re pur­sued on the me­rits in par­al­lel in va­rious ju­ris­dic­tions and in­vol­ved pie­cing of the cor­po­ra­te veil.
  • We ac­ted for cli­ents in a Lon­don ar­bi­tra­ti­on pur­suing a sub­stan­ti­al cla­im for loss of hi­re fol­lo­wing the fail­ure of the cli­ents’ char­te­rer to ta­ke de­li­very of the ves­sel as a new­buil­ding. The dis­pu­te in­vol­ved com­plex de­li­very pro­vi­si­ons in the chain of char­ter par­ties and the ques­ti­on whe­ther they we­re ali­gned wi­th tho­se of the ship­buil­ding con­tract. The ca­se al­so in­vol­ved the is­sue as to whe­ther the ves­sel was in a de­li­vera­ble con­di­ti­on un­der the ship­buil­ding con­tract.
  • We have ac­ted for cli­ents in re­spect of an over­con­sump­ti­on cla­im in re­spect of a group of ves­sels on char­ter from the cli­ents’ group. The cla­im in­vol­ved bun­ker re­port­ing prac­ti­ces and the is­sue whe­ther char­te­rers had a right of equi­ta­ble set-off against hi­re.
  • We have ad­vi­sed char­te­rers un­der the sub-char­ter for an off­shore sup­p­ly ves­sel fol­lo­wing the sus­pen­si­on of the vessel’s ser­vice un­der the head char­ter due to in­sol­ven­cy of the dis­po­nent ow­ners.
  • We have be­en in­vol­ved in fil­ing and pro­ving lar­ge claims loss of hi­re and other an­cil­la­ry claims in for­eign court-su­per­vi­sed re­ha­bi­li­ta­ti­on pro­cee­dings ope­ned in re­spect of ma­jor in­sol­vent char­te­rers.
  • We have draf­ted the bill of la­ding terms for a tank con­tai­ner ope­ra­tor.
  • We have ad­vi­sed our cli­ent in the es­tab­lish­ment of its own stan­dard-form time char­ter for crew trans­fer ves­sels for the off­shore wind in­dus­try.
  • We have ad­vi­sed a cli­ent in con­nec­tion wi­th its par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on in ten­der pro­cee­dings for off­shore sup­p­ly ves­sels for the con­s­truc­tion and ser­vicing of wind­farms.
  • We have ad­vi­sed a cli­ent in re­la­ti­on to ser­vice con­tracts for com­ply­ing wi­th re­gu­la­to­ry en­vi­ron­men­tal ob­li­ga­ti­ons ap­pli­ca­ble to wind farms.
  • We have ac­ted for ow­ners in de­fen­ding per­so­nal in­ju­ry claims brought by ste­ve­do­res fol­lo­wing in­ju­ry on board.
  • We have ac­ted for ow­ners and their crew in re­la­ti­on to a wa­ter pol­lu­ti­on of­fence in Ger­man co­as­tal wa­ters.
  • We have ac­ted for ste­ve­do­res in re­la­ti­on to their li­en over emp­ty con­tai­ners and the forced sa­le of the con­tai­ners.
  • We have ac­ted for cli­ents in a mul­ti­ple cla­im against ship­ma­na­gers in re­spect of un­paid insu­rance tax re­la­ting to a se­ries of lar­ge tan­kers. The ca­se in­vol­ved con­side­ring the ef­fect of com­plex OPEX gua­ran­tee and par­ti­ci­pa­ti­on pro­vi­si­ons in the ship­ma­nage­ment con­tracts.
  • We have ac­ted for a shipow­ner cli­ent chal­len­ging the ar­rest of its ves­sel in South East Asia in re­spect of a cla­im for un­paid bun­kers. We chal­len­ged the ar­rest by way of ap­peal pro­cee­dings in the lo­cal ju­ris­dic­tion of the ar­rest and by way of pro­cee­dings in the home ju­ris­dic­tion of the bun­ker sup­pli­er to force the re­lease of the ves­sel.
  • We ac­ted for the cli­ent in re­spect of the col­li­si­on of its ves­sel wi­th a pier fol­lo­wing a black­out on board. The ves­sel was de­tai­ned by the Ger­man aut­ho­ri­ties and cri­mi­nal pro­cee­dings we­re in­itia­ted against the vessel’s crew. Fol­lo­wing the in­iti­al ur­gent in­ves­ti­ga­ti­on pha­se, the ves­sel was re­leased wi­t­hout pro­vi­si­on of se­cu­ri­ty and the pro­cee­dings against the crew we­re not pur­sued.
  • We have ad­vi­sed cli­ents in con­nec­tion wi­th the le­aka­ge of ha­zar­dous li­quid from a num­ber of con­tai­ners, which in­vol­ved un­plan­ned di­schar­ge at an in­ter­me­dia­te port and re­jec­tion of the goods. The ca­se in­vol­ved com­plex is­sues of ow­ner­ship of the car­go un­der the sa­le con­tract, title to sue un­der the bills of la­ding and co­vera­ge un­der the car­go po­li­cy.
  • We have ad­vi­sed cli­ents in a dis­pu­te un­der a time char­ter sur­roun­ding the con­di­ti­on of the ves­sel on re­de­li­very and on the mea­ning of “da­ma­ge” to the ves­sel.gun­gen.

Yachts and
Su­per­yachts

LE­BUHN & PUCH­TA ad­vi­ses its cli­ents on all le­gal is­sues re­la­ting to ex­clu­si­ve yachts, cus­tom builds and su­per­yachts.

Ba­sed on the depth of our ex­pe­ri­ence in com­mer­cial ma­ri­ti­me ship­ping and our per­so­nal com­mit­ment to sai­ling and mo­tor yachts, we are the ide­al ad­vi­sors and part­ners whe­re pro­fes­sio­nal yacht­ing is­sues are con­cer­ned. We act for our cli­ents in the nego­tia­ti­on of ship­buil­ding con­tracts and the struc­tu­ring of the ow­ner­ship and ma­nage­ment, as well as on is­sues ran­ging from ship ope­ra­ti­on (re­gis­tra­ti­on, ma­nage­ment, insu­rance) to ma­ri­ne ca­su­al­ties.