Insights

新冠病毒疫情和不安全港口 船上出现新冠病毒对船员的安全和船舶的航贸能力都构成严重威胁，这已经是显而易见的事实。这 是否意味着受疫情影响的港口都是不安全的？答案若是肯定的，那么船东和租家又该如何应对？

In the first two weeks of June, there were substantial developments in the US sanctions imposed against both Venezuela and Iran, highlighting again that international shipping remains a key focus for the current US government.

Following the advent of COVID-19, many ports have imposed quarantine restrictions on ships arriving from affected areas or with possible infection on-board. There have also been associated delays due to the closure or restriction of operations in certain ports or unavailability of cargo. Against this backdrop, we have seen various disputes as to whether hire should be payable for the duration of such delays. Can a charterer legitimately refuse to pay hire during periods of delay due to the virus?

新冠病毒对定期租船合同下租金支付义务的影响 新冠病毒出现后，许多港口对来自疫情地区的船舶或船上出现疑似感染病例的船舶实施了隔离管制措施。随着某些港口关闭或限制作业，或出现无法取得货物的问题，迟延问题随之发生。在这种背景下，围绕着迟延期间租金是否应付的问题出现了各种纠纷。租家是否有权拒绝支付因病毒引起的迟延期间的租金？

The recent months have seen an unprecedented surge in the use of tankers as floating storage for oil and petroleum products caused by a perfect storm of collapsing demand for such products due to the COVID-19 pandemic - leading to the rapid overwhelming of onshore storage capacity - together with falling oil prices. The use of a tanker for such storage may have a range of practical and legal implications that arise from using a ship in a manner that was not contemplated or specifically provided for by the relevant charterparty.