The article examines the legal issues arising in the adjustment of marine insurance claims. The author analyses the features of the legal framework of marine insurance, addresses current issues in judicial practice, reviews significant Russian court judgments, and provides practical recommendations for minimising risks for parties involved in maritime carriage.

The article deals with the sue & labour clause in marine insurance contracts. With reference to historical development and modern judicial practice, the author analyses the balance of interests between the parties. The author undertakes a comparative legal analysis and demonstrates the variety of approaches to compensation of damages under the sue & labour clause.

This article examines breach of the safe port warranty as one of the principal risks covered by charterers’ liability insurance. It analyses the safe port criteria developed under English case law, and their impact on a charterer’s liability in damages. Attention is paid to the handling of insurance claims arising from breach of the safe port warranty, and to the steps to be taken by charterers and their insurers upon receipt of a claim from the shipowner.

The 12th Summer School for Young Scholars, entitled “Maritime Law: Safeguarding Russia’s State Sovereignty, Security and Economic Development,” was held at Kutafin Moscow State Law University (MSAL) from 2 to 5 June 2026. The event brought together 70 participants under the age of 35. Members of our Association were also among them.

The Colloquium and General Assembly of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) took place in Rio de Janeiro from 12 to 15 May 2026. Over the course of four days, around 400 delegates from national maritime law associations and industry representatives from around the world covered the issues currently at the forefront of their agenda, from the decarbonisation of shipping to fraudulent ship registries and the shadow fleet. The Russian Maritime Law Association (RUMLA) was represented by its president, Konstantin Krasnokutskiy.

Numerous studies have been devoted to the issue of the application of international treaties, particularly conventions, by Russian commercial courts. However, these studies primarily address situations where a foreign element is present in the dispute. No scholarly works analysing the use of international treaties in maritime disputes in the absence of a foreign element have been identified. In light of the above, this article will attempt to present such an analysis.

It has become increasingly clear to policyholders of late that war risks need not only to be insured separately, but also to be specified far more precisely in insurance contracts. At the same time, the established trend in the application of Article 964 of the Russian Civil Code does not prohibit insurers from including clauses in insurance terms that define the scope of covered and excluded risks. An Associate Professor at the S.S. Alekseev Private Law Research Centre reflects on how insurance practices are changing as war risks increase.

A new large-scale armed conflict broke out in late February 2026. The US and Israel launched a military operation against Iran, which responded by blocking the Strait of Hormuz: a third of the world’s liquefied natural gas, nearly a quarter of the world’s oil consumption, and many other goods are transported through this strait. Following several days of hostilities, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that only vessels with specific permission from Iranian authorities could expect to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. At the time of publication, around 30 vessels of various types, including container ships, bulk carriers and tankers, had been affected by hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz.

In late March, the Maritime Law Association held a scholarly seminar for its members on the regulation of container carriage by sea. The presentation was delivered by Mustafa Yilmaz, a specialist from the University of Liverpool (PhD in Maritime Law). He was a research fellow at the Centre for Maritime Law at the National University of Singapore, worked at the Ankara University, and taught as a visiting lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire. Mustafa Yilmaz is also the author of the first Turkish monograph on autonomous shipping.

In late February, the European Maritime Law Organisation (EMLO) hosted a webinar devoted to the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships (the “Beijing Convention”). The presentation was delivered by Ann Fenech, one of the Convention’s drafters, President of the Comité Maritime International (CMI), and a partner at Fenech & Fenech Advocates, Malta.

This article examines whether storm conditions may serve as a basis for exempting the carrier from liability in the carriage of goods by sea. The author demonstrates that Russian courts apply a strict approach to the burden of proving “perils and accidents of the sea” and “force majeure,” taking into account the geography and season, the strength and duration of the storm’s impact, and the master’s awareness of weather conditions during the voyage. The concluding section outlines the key arguments on the basis of which courts typically refuse to exempt carriers from liability.

The essay examines jurisdictional clauses in bills of lading in the context of Russian and Spanish legislation. It analyses the impact of such clauses on legal proceedings and the correlation between contractual autonomy and exclusive jurisdiction. A comparison of legal systems reveals problems with the unification of norms, reflecting the relevance of the topic for the development of international maritime law and the activities of the Russian Maritime Law Association.

Issues of causation, within the framework of civil liability in contract and tort law, have been sufficiently developed. At the same time, not all of these concepts can be used for the purposes of marine insurance. Nevertheless, the issue of causation has not been thoroughly addressed in Russian scholarship. In connection with the above, this paper attempts to provide an overview of existing Russian and foreign sources on the determination of causality in marine insurance. In addition, an analysis of domestic judicial practice will be provided.

Sanctions have radically reshaped the landscape of marine insurance, creating new challenges for international arbitration: the nature of disputes and associated risk allocation is evolving, contractual clauses are being reconfigured, and claims to handling mechanisms are being recalibrated. This article examines conflict-of-laws issues “law, jurisdiction, and public policy” and contemporary dispute-resolution practice, including the enforceability of arbitration clauses and the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards under the 1958 New York Convention. Emphasis is given to the London market. Through selected examples, the article demonstrates how sanctions and compliance requirements transform the allocation of risks between insureds and insurers, including P&I Clubs.

The essay is devoted to analysis of rules applicable to shipbuilding contracts. It examines legal solutions based on the contractual typology of the shipbuilding contract under English and Russian law, and it also provides an analysis of certain aspects of international shipbuilding standard contracts from the standpoint of Russian law. The study emphasises the importance of comparative analysis in shaping legal standards in the field of international shipbuilding.