Playing by the same rules

THIS column rarely delves far into the world of ship financing, largely because your columnist knows precious little about the topic, except that unwanted tonnage always seems to attract enough cash to keep upsetting the supply/ demand balance.

However he does know that shipping is a global industry that only works well if everybody plays by the same rules, and that applies to the legal framework surrounding ship financing just as much as it does to, say, emission control or collision regulations.

So there has been some good news on this front. The Liberian Registry says that, in co-operation with the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), it has succeeded in helping the holder of a Liberian mortgage to overturn a decision of the Brazilian courts which, if left uncontested, could have had serious adverse legal and economic consequences for the international shipping industry.