Hamburg

Transportation

In the transportation sector, we offer comprehensive services in marine and aviation.

Hamburg has long been an important hub for the marine industry and our team is recognized as a market leader in its field. Consisting of both German and English-qualified lawyers, we provide advice to clients all over the world throughout the entire maritime industry.

In the maritime sector, we advise on newbuilding contracts, sale and purchase transactions, charterparties, management agreements, and insurance. Furthermore, we provide support for national and cross-border financing of ships, including with ECA cover, leasing structures (in particular Chinese leasing, JOLCOs), restructurings/work-outs, and loan portfolio transfers.

Furthermore, we have particular expertise advising on regulatory issues, such as sanctions, ship recycling, FuelEU and EU ETS.

We are regarded as specialists in the yachting sector where we advise yacht and superyacht owners and their insurers on newbuilding as well as sale and purchase projects. We also represent our clients in claims arising out of yacht-building, refit/repair, charterparty and insurance contracts.

Our services in contentious areas cover all aspects of shipping, yachting, admiralty, and pilotage, with a strong focus on marine insurance. This includes representing clients in arbitration and before state courts in relation to shipbuilding disputes, charterparty and bill of lading claims, sale and purchase disputes, crew and cargo claims, insurance and insolvency disputes, salvage claims, and disputes under ship management contracts.

The Clyde & Co Hamburg team is also known for its outstanding expertise in large-scale admiralty matters. We have been involved in large-scale admiralty cases, including collisions, salvage, wreck removal, groundings, fire, crane collapse cases, canal blockages, cargo loss and constructive total losses. For such ‘wet shipping’ matters, we have a team of legally qualified German and English casualty investigators including mariners who are available 24/7 to respond to urgent casualties in German waters and globally.

In the aviation sector, we advise on the purchase and sale of aircraft and the related registration, leasing contracts, management agreements and insurance. Furthermore, we provide support in the financing of aircraft and the associated ordering of aircraft mortgages. 

Energy/Infrastructure

Our team regularly advises on a variety of large and complex offshore wind projects, such as, in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the United States of America as well as in the Taiwan Strait. Our experience includes various reviews of offshore construction, transportation and installation contracts based on the FIDIC Silver Book and/or FIDIC Yellow Book as well as BIMCO standard forms and tailor-made contracts for works. Moreover, we have accompanied and advised clients during complex tender proceedings. Our team also offers legal and operative project management support to project investors during the execution phase of renewable energy projects (Wind, Hydro, Geothermal, PV and CSP).

Besides the non-contentious advice, our energy team represents international contractors in commercial litigation/arbitration regarding intricate delay/variation order disputes as well as developers in post M&A/joint venture disputes regarding renewable energy projects.      

In the infrastructure sector, we advise on large-scale projects, with a particular focus on oil and gas/LNG. Our experience includes, among other things, advising clients on the legal framework for operating LNG bunker vessels in German ports as well as on the necessary authorisations and further legal prerequisites for LNG transport and delivery by truck through Germany.

Insurance

Our insurance team handles claims across every line of insurance and reinsurance business, from the smallest claim to the largest and most complex loss. In this context, we can make use of our network across the globe to serve our clients' individual needs.

In the marine and transport insurance field, we assist with the drafting policies and contracts and represent clients in disputes arising out of all manner of insurance policies including hull, cargo, third party liability and transport liability. A special focus of the Hamburg team, in addition to the coordination of complex disputes, is on cover issues under policies subject to ADS/DTV-Hull-, War Risk-, ‘DTV-Cargo- & DTV-Flusskaskoregime’ under German law. The Hamburg office also runs a ‘German Marine Law Insurance Desk’ for the Lloyd market in London.

The Hamburg insurance team also specialises in contentious and non-contentious matters regarding coverage issues under CAR policies as well as event cancellation, entertainment, and fine art and specie insurance.

Dispute Resolution

The Hamburg office regularly advises on complex, high-value and sensitive multi-jurisdictional litigations both before German and English courts. Our German arbitration team has significant experience in complex international and domestic arbitrations (ICC, LCIA, DIS, SIAC, SCC, AAA, LMAA, GMAA, ad hoc) across various industry sectors. In addition to commercial arbitrations, we advise investors on investment protection and represent them in investment arbitrations (ICSID, UNCITRAL and ad hoc) when their investments abroad are at stake. We support our clients in jurisdictional disputes, arbitration challenges, setting-aside and enforcement of arbitral awards.

Trade

Our trade and commodities practice is a growing area for Hamburg. We advise international commodity and agricultural producers, commodity trading companies, shipping companies, banks and financial institutions on all legal aspects of the international sale of goods and provide legal support and guidance to our clients in an increasingly complex geopolitical and regulatory landscape. We have extensive experience in handling large-scale cross-jurisdictional disputes and our team has represented clients in litigation as well as in arbitrations under all the major international rules as well as before commodity trade tribunals (FOSFA, GAFTA, Hamburg Waren-Verein).

As part of the trade sector, we also advise on transport and logistics. This area is one of the Hamburg office's core areas of expertise. We cover all aspects of the carriage of goods by road, sea, rail, and air, both domestic and global. We regularly represent clients in transactional, dispute resolution, regulatory and compliance matters, and deal with small, medium, and large claims and casualties as well as contract drafting and business conceptional work on a daily basis.

Many of our lawyers have gained in-house experience with freight forwarders, shipping companies, federal authorities and in claims departments of insurers and brokers. This enables us to provide clients with in-depth insight into the legal necessities of their trade.