Joseph Tan Jude Benny LLP

In the intricate world of international trade, maritime transport is a cornerstone, facilitating the movement of goods across vast distances. Carriers engaged in this industry enter into contracts of carriage, committing to transport goods by sea from one country to another in exchange for freight. These contracts typically include terms and conditions related to the carriage of goods, liability, delivery obligations, and, critically, dispute resolution mechanisms.

In the realm of arbitration, where disputes are resolved outside traditional courtrooms, the exchange of documents can be essential for ensuring fairness and efficiency.

Following on from the previous edition of Calypso, in this month’s edition, we are diving deeper into the challenges faced by the MASS market, in particular cybersecurity risks for shipowners and operators.

The Ministry of Manpower has recently launched a workplace safety code of practice for company management (the “Code of Practice”). The Code of Practice is targeted at the top management of the company (i.e. the chief executive and company directors) as they have the influence and control over budgets, priorities and training for workplace safety and health. A company that does not follow the Code of Practice could be seen as falling short of legal standards.

The changes brought about by COVID-19 has forced businesses to re-think the efficiency of their processes. One way in which businesses have sought to improve efficiency is by incorporating e-signatures into their standard operating procedures.

The size of the global Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) market is projected by Allied Market Research to reach $165 billion by 2030 with the Asia Pacific region expected to drive much of that growth.

Over the past 24 months, businesses in Southeast Asia, a region that has a passing through of US$3.4 trillion worth of trade annually, have been forced to focus on and reassess their global supply chains. These businesses are on a journey of transforming their supply chains, to mitigate and de-risk their businesses, and are doing so by redirecting their supply chains and production facilities closer to home.

Data protection officers and in-house legal counsel responsible for their organization’s compliance with personal data protection laws have key roles to play in this digital age which has drastically increased the ways in which organizations collect and use personal data.

The Singapore Maritime Week took place from 4 to 8 April 2022 and was one of the first large scale in person gatherings in Singapore for over 2 years.

Although there is wide recognition that the adoption of tech will bring benefits, there are still significant issues that need to be addressed.

Delivery orders and invoices are ubiquitous commercial documents issued by suppliers in business, the functions of which primarily serve to verify the work done by the supplier and to request payments from customers for goods / services sold.