International Trade, Shipping & Sanctions

The Firm’s International Trade, Shipping & Sanctions practice possesses specialised international trade and maritime legal practitioners and sanctions advisory expertise.

The team handles the gamut of commodity and dry shipping disputes such as those arising from cross-border sale and purchase contracts, trade finance (including letters of credit), carriage of goods by sea (bills of lading and charterparties), shipbuilding, ship sale and purchase contracts, marine insurance and admiralty claims before the Singapore High Court and arbitral tribunals.

As for sanctions, the team has advised ship-owning companies and bareboat charterers on whether contemplated shipments of various cargoes (such as wheat, coal and iron ore from Russia) infringes Singapore sanctions law – in particular, Singapore’s export control measures and other financial measures on Russia. The team has also advised a bank on its potential liabilities relating to a shipping tycoon under the Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) (Sanctions and Freezing of Assets of Persons — Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) Regulations 2016.

Testament to the team’s abilities, the practice has been ranked favourably by Benchmark Litigation for Shipping.

Some of our notable cases include:

Acting for a major foreign state-owned entity against major financial institutions in interpleader actions arising out of the fall-out and collapse of Hin Leong Trading (Pte.) Ltd and Ocean Tankers (Pte.) Ltd.
Acting for a major foreign state-owned entity in a Singapore International Arbitration Centre arbitration and setting aside proceedings against one of the largest independent oil storage terminals in Asia Pacific. The claim is worth about US$40 million and relates to the largest corporate fraud in Singapore’s history.
Acting for a local trading house in two separate litigations against two banks in a dispute arising out various allegedly fraudulent representations contained in: the Warranty of Title; and commercial invoices presented by the beneficiary under letters of credit. The total value paid under the letters of credit was approximately US$85 million.
Advising on rights and liabilities against potential claimants in respect of delays to ground handling of air freight cargo arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic.