Insights

On 21st April, 2020, OFAC renewed and re-issued General Licence 8, now General Licence 8F. The amended General Licence is a clear escalation of the US sanctions targeting Venezuela, and may be indicative of an increased focus by the US on its Venezuelan sanctions policy. Read more...

Reports of financial difficulties facing one of the biggest players in the Singapore bunkering market, Hin Leong Trading (Pte.) Ltd. give rise to concern within the industry. Hin Leong’s bunker arm, Ocean Bunkering Services (Pte.) Ltd. (OBS), was ranked the third-largest shipping fuel supplier in Singapore last year. It is understood that OBS has informed its customers that it plans to suspend marine fuel deliveries, after banks failed to provide a letter of credit to buy cargoes.

On 30th March, 2020, in a landmark decision which followed fifteen years of litigation, the US Supreme Court held that the safe port clause in the standard ASBATANKVOY form constitutes an express warranty of safety by the charterer as a matter of US law.

In the last edition of our Sulphur Series we foreshadowed some of the potential considerations relating to the use of scrubbers as a means of compliance with the MARPOL sulphur cap regulations. Now that scrubbers have come into common usage on many ships, we take an updated look at some of the legal and practical issues that have come to the fore. Find out more.

Another Rosneft-related entity added to the SDN list On 12th March, 2020, OFAC designated TNK Trading International S.A. (“TTI”) to the Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list under E.O. 13850 for operating in the oil sector of the Venezuelan economy. TTI was also designated to the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications (SSI) list under E.O. 13662 dealing with the Ukraine.