It has been acknowledged that most international regulations were triggered by a series of tanker disasters that had devastating effects on the marine environment. One way to better protect the aquatic environment is the proactive response of the member states of the various international organisations to expedite the ratification procedures for international conventions, mainly the International Maritime Organization (IMO) legal instruments. Every time this is achieved, ship owners become more responsible for protecting the marine environment, regardless of the economic costs involved. Following this path, ship owners will be obliged to cooperate with competent authorities when a vessel calls at a port for the loading, discharging, bunkering, repairing and other secondary operations, to counter the possible threat of emerging pollution. This paper focuses on issues that are mostly related to the amendments of Annex VI of the MARPOL Convention, which deal explicitly with air pollution. The paper also examines the relationship between technological innovations, the existing regulations and the environmental threats posed by carbon dioxide and volatile organic compounds, and methods to deal with sulphur reduction.

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This paper analyses and compares the two methods proposed for monitoring, reporting and verifying CO2 emissions from shipping, namely the European Union MRV Regulation (EU 2015/757) and the Global Data Collection System of the IMO for fuel oil consumption of ships adopted as an amendment to MARPOL Annex VI in 2016. The two systems differ considerably in many aspects, such as, for example, the IMO DCS requires the reporting of ships' fuel consumption data, while the EU MRV involves the reporting of CO2 emission; the weight of cargo carried and energy efficiency. As recently as February 2019, efforts have been made to achieve a harmonised approach to both systems, thus supporting compliance and minimising extra administrative costs incurred on shipping companies. The EU MRV system maintains the provisions on publication of individual ships’ data of CO2 emissions and energy efficiency, thus keeping transparency as one of its key advantages.

This paper aims to classify and assess the impact of charter party clauses against the contractual terms of marine insurance contracts. Initially, a contractual term may be classified as a condition, a warranty, or an innominate term when the nature of a clause is not yet classified. Based on this classification, the effectiveness of those terms and the available remedies vary significantly upon a contractual dispute or termination. Specifically, the classification of a term as a condition has similar effects in charter parties and insurance contracts, namely, the termination of the contract and/or claim for damages. Nevertheless, the marine insurance conditions also rely on the claim’s seriousness to effectively provide the election of contractual termination, thus rendering them rather weakened compared to charter parties. At the same time, classifying a term as a warranty always had a different impact. The classification of a term as a warranty in a charter party may only offer as a remedy compensation for damages, but not the option to terminate the contract. In insurance contracts, the classification of a term as a warranty provides the same options to the affected party as a term classified as a condition, namely, the termination of the contract and/or claim for damages. With the introduction of MIA 2015, the affected party, when triggering a warranty, has a third option, namely, to be able to amend the contractual relationship in case reasons of termination emerge, protecting at the same time the other party, rendering it irresponsible of any damages or claims until the contractual relationship is reinstated.

The global outbreak of Covid-19 has had a severe impact affecting all maritime sectors. It caused a significant worldwide health and economic crisis with a wide-ranging impact on maritime transport and trade. During this period, access to essential goods and medical items was ensured mainly by the ability of the marine supply chain to adapt by developing systems and processes quickly. Thus, regulations and instructions were imposed in response to the pandemic to monitor and counter the spread and the ancillary effects. This paper aims to assess and codify all those maritime regulations and instructions hastily created to protect the crew's health and safety and prevent the spread of Covid-19 aboard ships. Initially, all relevant rules and countermeasures to crew health and safety are explored and evaluated under the exploratory research coupled with the analysis of the relevant regulatory framework. Then, methods and processes are being created and proposed to offer a composed reaction plan to each case where the effects and consequences of the pandemic may occur. The relevant regulations are the primary source of data and similar studies conducted presently, whose outcomes are used to create and justify the recommended processes and the steps that should be followed based on the special conditions of individual cases. The paper concludes that implementing standard processes and procedures, such as those provided by the analysis, will enhance the speed and the effectiveness of handling the pandemic. It is also concluded that proactive measures coupled with fast and efficient responses are critical for developing effective procedures.