Yearly Archives: 2024

HFW’s yacht team has once again been ranked Band 1 in the Chambers & Partners High Net Worth Yachts & Superyachts Guide. Four members of our industry leading team have also been recognised.  Chambers noted: “HFW’s yacht lawyers advise clients on sophisticated cross-border financings, transactions and contentious matters.”

As the northern hemisphere’s summer season begins and the rush of pre-season work slows down, we have found time to put pen to paper to bring you the latest edition of Comprehensively Yachts, which we hope you find full of thought-provoking topics and analysis.

In light of the growing adoption of sustainable technology in yachting, including Feadship’s recently launched 60m Project 713, which will harness solar energy and has the capacity to also run on non-fossil hydrogenated vegetable oil, and Project 821, the world’s first hydrogen fuel-cell superyacht, we take a look at what may be the next frontier in yacht propulsion: nuclear power.

Next, we consider the Cayman Islands’ new Merchant Shipping Act 2024 and the revised Red Ensign Group Code, before our London employment team revisit a UK employment tribunal case of significant relevance for the employment of yacht crew.

Given the importance of Swiss manufacturing to the yachting industry, it is not uncommon to encounter Swiss law contracts, and we have therefore asked our colleagues in Geneva provide a summary of why arbitration in Switzerland maintains such popularity.

Our usual sanctions update follows, before we finish off with a focus on fraud, the changes with the new UK legislation and what you can do to stay one step ahead.

With 2023 drawing to a close, we are delighted to present the latest edition of Comprehensively Yachts. In this edition, we discuss the impact of Russian sanctions on the yachting industry. Next, our marine insurance specialists consider whether the widely used American Yacht Form R12 is still fit for purpose or whether the time is right for the marine insurance industry to move on to a bespoke wording. Our admiralty team explore the law behind a yacht’s AIS transmission and how you might achieve ex- directory status, as the temptation to turn this feature off to ensure the privacy of your charter is ever growing given the risked poses by the development of smart phone technology. Our Paris office reports on a recent land-mark conviction of the captain of a 26 meter yacht by the Maritime Court of Marseille following his repeated anchoring in protected posidonia meadows and the threat such conviction has for the wider yachting industry. Finally, we round out this edition with a long read on Cyber Security, the increasing regulation around it and the growing need to take it seriously.