Centuries of trade have defined many different trade routes throughout Asia based on favourable currents and winds that made trade commercially viable. While wind and currents are no longer essential to use these routes, they remain historically and legally essential for the transit of vessels from; commercial shipping through to fishing and the smaller cruising craft and the modern…

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Maritime Insurance The origin of insurance itself is water-bound. Maritime insurance is considered one of the earliest well-developed forms of insurance, with its origins in the Greek and Roman maritime loans of the 18th Century. Today, In Australia, marine insurance policy contracts are governed by the Marine Insurance Act 1909 (MIA). Marine ‘adventures’ and ‘perils’ Under MIA, contracts of marine insurance are…

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Scientists and the petroleum industry no longer are the sole explorers of the Arctic. With the melting polar ice caps new routes are opening up to places only a privileged few could have had passage to in the past. Icebreakers were almost a necessity for the few scientific and cargo vessels that dared to gaze upon the ivory hills….

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By Marcel Vaarzon-Morel Aims of AMSA Under AMSA (Australian Maritime Safety Association) new National Standards have several aims, including simplifying maritime safety laws, removing barriers to inter-state commercial business activities; providing uniform safety requirements and standards; and providing a national framework for enforcement and compliance with these standards. Under the National Standards, AMSA becomes the national regulator, and has its…

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