Greentech and Shipping

Dr Lia Amaxilati, Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law
Dr Amaxilati’s research interests are in international labour law and maritime law. Her principal research examines issues involving the protection of seafarers’ rights, labour exploitation at sea, and modern slavery at sea. Her interests also extend to the regulation of international shipping. She joined Swansea University in 2019 as a lecturer. She is a graduate of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece) and holds an LLM degree in Maritime Law from the University of Southampton (UK). She also completed her PhD degree in maritime law with emphasis on seafarers’ rights at the University of Southampton in 2019.

Before joining Swansea University, Dr Amaxilati worked as a lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London where she taught tort law. She was also a tutor at the University of Southampton where she taught admiralty law. She is also a qualified lawyer in Greece. Dr Amaxilati is a contributor at the official blog of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law. She is also a member of the Society of Legal Scholars and the UK branch of the Women in Shipping and Trading Association.

Professor Lia Athanasiou,  Athens University
Lia Athanassiou is Professor of Commercial Law with senior full-time tenure at the Law School of the University of Athens, teaching mainly Shipping Law, Competition Law, Company Law as well as EU State Aids Law. She is also the Director of the Post Graduate Program on Business Law at the above University. Lia holds a PhD Degree at the University of Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne as well as authorization by the University of Paris I-Sorbonne to supervise University research. She was Visiting Scholar at Harvard Law School (2007-08) and Fulbright Scholar (2007-08). She has lectured and effectuated academic research in several foreign Institutions (USA, Malta, UK, Italy, France, Germany). Barrister at law entitled to plead before the Supreme Court with experience in consulting and arbitration. She has been appointed as Member (alternate and full) of the Hellenic Competition Authority (2003-08). In 2015, she was appointed member of the Committee of Experts of the International Labor Organization (ILO-Geneva).

She has published extensively on Maritime, Competition, Industrial Property, Energy, Company, European and Transport law. Participation in and organization of numerous international and national Conferences and Congresses. Among her latest publications: Maritime Cross-border Insolvenses (Informa 2018, in English), The notion of Undertaking, cartels, Impositions of fines, Structural and behavioral measures, actions for damages, in (D. Tzouganatos ed.) Competition Law (2013) and Maritime Law, by A. Antapassis/ L. Athanassiou (2020).

Professor Simon Baughen, Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law
Professor Baughen’s research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include climate change, and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world. Simon is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law (IISTL) at Swansea University. Simon was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law in September 2013 (previously Reader at the University of Bristol Law School). Simon Baughen studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. He is  the editor of "Summerskill on Laytime", now in its 7th edition, the author of "Shipping Law", with the 8th edition coming out in June 2023, and of "Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs: Closing the Governance Gap".

Gabriel Castellanos, Technical Officer in the Marine Environment Division, IMO
Gabriel is Technical Officer at the International Maritime Organization where he oversee and conducts analysis in the decarbonization of the shipping sector, with a main focus on the upscale of low and zero-emission fuels, LCA of fuels and development of decarbonization scenarios. Along his career, Mr Castellanos has worked in projects and initiatives relevant to Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and The Caribbean; where he has worked on long term investment planning, policy, market and business analysis, as well as in long term energy planning. In numerous occasions has worked closely with multiple public and private stakeholders and provided direct advice to governments and companies on energy transition strategies and enhance their energy investment plans. Prior to joining the International Maritime Organization, Mr. Castellanos worked for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) where he led the agency’s work on shipping decarbonization and development of energy scenarios linked to this end-use sector, as well as the uptake on the production and employment of green hydrogen-based fuels such as ammonia and methanol. Before then, Mr Castellanos worked with multiple organization including the UN Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office,  the Latin American Energy Organization (Olade), the Rocky Mountain Institute, among others.

Grant Hunter, BIMCO
Grant Hunter is BIMCO’s Director for Standards, Innovation and Research investigating the future of the shipping business to help BIMCO deliver digitalised products and services to members and the wider industry. He has worked in the shipping industry for over 40 years. Grant began his shipping career at sea in 1978, followed by eight years working ashore in the commercial and operations department of P&O Bulk Shipping in London. He has worked for BIMCO since 1997 – the past 25 years as Head of Contracts and Clauses. Grant has a Masters degree in Maritime Policy and Law from the London School of Economics (LSE).

Jolien Kruit, Van Traa Advocaten
Jolien has been working at Van Traa since 2005. She is specialised in maritime law and related international private law issues. She regularly publishes and lectures on various maritime law subjects. After completing her master studies in Leiden, she went on to do a Master in Maritime Law in Southampton (2005). In 2017, Jolien obtained her PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam with her dissertation 'General Average, Legal Basis and Applicable Law'. Prior to this, in 2004, she had already published the book ‘General average and the presence of fault’. In addition, Jolien is recommended by Chambers Europe, Transportation (2022 Edition): Jolien Kruit has a strong focus on advising clients on liability and damages claims, including for oil spills and damage to underwater cables. She also assists clients with general average claims and disputes over the contamination of goods. An interviewee enthuses that she is "very bright in shipping law." The Legal500 has named Jolien as Next Generation Partner in 2022. Jolien is a member of the Dutch Association for Transport Law (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Vervoerrecht (NVV)), member of the board of the NVV General Average Committee (Averij-grossecommissie van de NVV) and a member of WISTA (Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association).

Cathal Leigh‑Doyle​​​​, Stephenson Harwood LLP
Cathal is a lawyer based in London specialising in offshore energy and maritime litigation and international arbitration. He has extensive dispute resolution experience representing owners, charterers, shipyards, equipment manufacturers and contractors. Cathal has a particular depth of expertise in connection to autonomous vessels, e-fuels and wind propulsion technology. He also routinely assists clients in non-contentious matters such as negotiating charterparties and advising clients on high value international projects. Cathal is a guest lecturer at Swansea University on its Oil, Gas and Renewable Energy LLM and is frequently invited to speak by BIMCO on its workshops and presentations for the last number of years. While practicing in England and Wales, Cathal is triple jurisdiction qualified being also qualified to practise law in New York and Ireland.

Dr Aygun Mammadzada, Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law
Dr Mammadzada joined the IISTL in August 2022. Prior to joining the IISTL, she worked as a part-time lecturer at Bournemouth University, a teaching assistant at Southampton University, and a lecturer at Baku State University. Aygun's primary research focuses on international business, trade and maritime law, commercial conflict of laws, intellectual property law, dispute resolution, including arbitration and litigation, as well as digitalisation, legal innovation and technology.

She has got awarded Max Planck research grants and Konrad Zweigert scholarships, held various visiting fellowships at different institutions in Europe, and is the Managing Editor of Global Constitutionalism published by the Cambridge University Press. She is a qualified lawyer in the Azerbaijan Republic and prior to her Ph.D. studies she worked as a lawyer at the Ministry of Education of the Azerbaijan Republic, International Project and Legal Officer of the Ministry on the Twinning Project, and Erasmus+ Exchange Programme of the European Commission, as well as practicing law at several law firms in Azerbaijan.

Dr Alicia Mackenzie, Research Assistatnt, Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law
Alicia is a Research Assistant at Swansea University currently working on Cyber Resilience project. She holds a PhD and LLM from Swansea University and her expertise is in the realm of insurance law (especially cyber risk insurance).

Johanna Ohlman, Associate, HFW, London
Johanna is an associate in the London Shipping Litigation Team of the HFW. She has acted for owners, charterers, offshore contractors, salvors and P&I Clubs on a variety of disputes arising from charterparties, bills of lading, piracy, collisions and groundings. The majority of Johanna's work involves multi-jurisdictional litigation and arbitration. As well as dispute resolution, Johanna also has expertise in public international law and advises on maritime boundary issues under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. In addition, Johanna advises on international and regional environmental regulations affecting the maritime sector, including the IMO's and EU's carbon emissions reduction initiatives.

Dr Melis Ozdel, Director of UCL Centre for Commercial Law
Dr Ozdel has written extensively in the areas of international trade law, carriage of goods by sea, international commercial arbitration and conflict of laws and jurisdiction. She is the editor and co-author of Commercial Maritime Law (2020, Hart Publishing), author of Bills of Lading Incorporating Charterparties (2015, Hart Publishing) and co-author of EU Transport Law (2016, Hart-Nomos-Beck). She is the news editor for Tulane Maritime Law Journal and International Company and Commercial Law.

Dr Ozdel is Director of the UCL Centre for Commercial Law. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and a supporting member of the LMAA (London Maritime Arbitrators' Association).

Dr Tristan Smith, UCL Bartlett
Dr Smith has three principle fields of research interest: Low Carbon Shipping The development and implementation of technologies and operational practices for the reduction of CO2 emission from shipping. This research area is highly multi-disciplinary, and while his focus is on the development of techno-economic models for the shipping industry and the design of robust and effective policy and instruments for CO2 emission reduction, his research interests cover all aspects of shipping economics, logistics and operation. Marine Renewables Wave, offshore wind and tidal power offer significant potential as low carbon energy supplies of the future. Tristan’s research interest is in developing and performing hydrodynamic and structural analysis of these devices to establish both their performance and their safety (from a structural integrity perspective). Safety of Damaged Ships and Offshore Structures Ships and offshore structures are designed to withstand structural loads which in accidents can be exceeded. They may then have to survive in a harsh environment before remedial action or recovery to a safe haven can be achieved. This research interest is focused on the development of analysis techniques to assess the survivability of damaged structures in waves - with particular focus on the fluid structure interaction of flooded damaged structures.

Sam Strivens, Carbon Trust
Sam heads Floating Offshore Wind and Maritime Decarbonisation activities within Carbon Trust’s Policy and Innovation department. This includes managing the Floating Wind JIP programme and representing Carbon Trust on a number of international and R&D advisory boards. Sam comes from a maritime operations background with experience as Master of crew transfer vessels and vessel management for offshore windfarms around the UK.

Sam has an MSc in Marine Renewable Energy from the University of Plymouth where his research focus was on the installation phase of floating offshore wind turbine platforms. Sam also holds a BSc (Hons) in Exploration and Resource Geology from the University of Cardiff, Wales and MCA Master 200 certification.

Professor B. Soyer, Director of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law
Professor Soyer’s principal research interest is in the field of insurance, particularly marine insurance, but his interests extend broadly throughout maritime law and contract law. Apart from writing two monographs (Warranties in Marine Insurance Law and Marine Insurance Fraud), he published extensively in elite journals such as Cambridge Law Journal, Law Quarterly Review, Edinburgh Law Review, Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Berkeley Journal of International Law, Journal of Business Law, Torts Law Journal and Journal of Contract Law. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of International Maritime Law, Shipping and Trade Law and Baltic Maritime Law Quarterly and editorial committee of the Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly (International Maritime and Commercial Law Yearbook).

Professor Soyer was appointed as a lecturer at Swansea in 2001 and was promoted to readership in 2006 and professorship in 2009. He was appointed as the Director of the Institute of Shipping and Trade Law at the School of Law, Swansea in October 2010. He was previously a lecturer at the University of Exeter. He is currently the Director of Shipping and Trade Law and is involved in the teaching of the following modules in our LLM programme: Admiralty Law, Marine Insurance Law and Charterparties: Law and Practice.

Professor Andrew Tettenborn, Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law
Andrew Tettenborn joined the Law School at Swansea University in 2010 from the University of Exeter as Professor of Commercial Law. His interests lie in private, commercial and maritime law generally. He teaches widely at Swansea in those subjects, and has taught aspects of contract law elsewhere, for example in Geneva and Aix-en-Provence.

He is a leading member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law at Swansea University, edits Marsden's Collisions at Sea and Sealy & Hooley's Text, cases and Materials on Commercial Law, and is on the editorial board of Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly.  His recent publications include "Shipping Law, Brexit and the City of London" [2022] LMCLQ 123, and (with Professor Soyer)  Disruptive Technologies, Climate Change and Shipping, published by Informa Law.

Professor Vibe Garf Ulfbeck, Copenhagen University
biography to follow

Haris Zografakis, Partner, Stephenson Harwood LLP
Haris heads up Stephenson Harwoods commodities practice and for over 25 years has dealt with all aspects of shipping and international maritime trade. Haris started his career in the City of London in 1994. Dispute resolution represents the largest part of his practice and he has acted in over 300 arbitrations, High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court and multi-jurisdictional cases ranging from modest demurrage claims to mine off-take, shipbuilding and oil and gas disputes worth hundreds of millions. His reported Court cases include the Johnny K, Trafigura v Kookmin Bank, the Sabrewing, the Northgate, the Port Russel, U&M v Konkola Copper Mines, CH Offshore v PDVSA Petroleo and Petrosaudi Oil Services v Novo Banco et al. While he has been described as a "solid and tenacious litigator" (Chambers UK 2007) and “a supreme tactician” (Chambers UK 2020), he is also involved in non-contentious work, structuring transactions and drafting standard terms.

This diverse practice has allowed him a unique insight into all aspects of shipping and international trade that is uncommon amongst the shipping legal profession. For several years, he has been involved in various maritime decarbonisation projects, including having served on the drafting committee of GMF's Sea Cargo Charter, and now its legal advisor; co-ordinator of the Blue Visby Consortium, legal advisor to Aspen's coZEV, and others. He has published and lectured extensively, including at COP26, as to the contractual aspects of maritime decarbonisation.

He has served on the editorial board of Shipping and Transport Law Journal, is as member of the Council of the London Shipping Law Centre, is member of the Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Southampton, and has published and lectured extensively worldwide including for BIMCO

09:00 Registration

09:25 Opening: Professor Simon Baughen, IISTL

09:30 Session 1- Shipping and Decarbonisation- International and Regional Initiatives
Chair: Edmund Greiner, Senior Legal Counsel, Fugro Marine Services, The Netherlands 

Speakers:
Gabriel Castellanos, Technical Officer in the Marine Environment Division, IMO- “The Work of the IMO”
Dr Tristan Smith UCL – “Regulatory and Voluntary Forces- Twin Drivers of Shipping Transition away from Fossil Fuels“
Johanna Ohlman, Associate, HFW- “The Interaction between Regional and International Maritime Emissions Regulations”

10:45 Break

11:15 Session 2- Shipping and Decarbonisation- Contractual Implications
Chair: Neil Henderson, Senior Executive, Gard

Speakers:
Professor Lia Athanasiou, Athens University- “EU Rules and Contracts”
Professor Vibe Garf Ulfbeck, Copenhagen University- "Decarbonisation- Contract solutions”
Dr Lia Amaxilati, IISTL, Swansea – “Greentech and Impact on Crewing Arrangements and Contracts”

12:30 Lunch

13:30 Session 3- Shipping and Decarbonisation- Industry Solutions
Chair: Cathal Leigh-Doyle, Managing Associate, Stephenson Harwood LLP

Speakers:
Haris Zografakis, Partner, Stevenson and Harwood, and Dr Jolien Kruit, Partner, Van Traa Advocaten - “Blue Visby Solution”
Grant Hunter, BIMCO- “The 4th Way Project- Exploring A New Business Model Concept for 21st Century Shipping”
Professor B. Soyer and Dr Alicia Mckenzie, IISTL, Swansea University- “Poseidon Principles”

14:45 Break

15:15 Session 4- Digital Solutions and Legal Issues Emerging
Chair: Michael Biltoo, Partner, Kennedys

Speakers:
Dr Melis Ozdel, UCL- “Regulating the AI in Shipping: In Search of Common Definitions”
Professor Andrew Tettenborn, IISTL, Swansea- “Achieving Paperless Trade”
Dr Aygun Mammadzada, IISTL, Swansea- “Resolving Green Tech Disputes”

16:30- 17.15 Session 5- Alternative Solutions
Chair: Dr Tabetha Kurtz-Shefford, IISTL, Swansea University

Speakers:
Sam Strivens, Carbon Trust- “Renewable Energy Integration and Future Fuel Production’
Professor Simon Baughen, IISTL, Swansea- “Carbon Storage and Transport- Liabilities 

17:15 Close and reception
18:15 Conference ends.

If you have any queries about this conference please email lisa.penfold@ucl.ac.uk