Law Firm “ANK” awarded at the XIV Ukraine National Maritime Rating 2020 ceremony

On 21.05.2021 the XIV award ceremony for the National Maritime Rating of Ukraine 2020 took place.

Law Firm “ANK” was recognized in the Business Protection category for such key achievements for the maritime industry in 2020 as:

1. opening of MACN Help Desk in Ukraine

In 2020, the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) opened a Help Desk in Ukraine. As a result of a competitive tender, Law Firm «ANK» was appointed as MACN’s advisor on Ukrainian law for 2020-2021 to support MACN member companies and interested parties before and during port calls and to provide operational advice, as well as for the implementation of Anti-Corruption Instruments to reduce corruption risks when entering Ukrainian ports. Read about the role and importance of MACN work in Ukraine in an exclusive interview with the organization’s executive director Cecilia Torbrand to “Ports of Ukraine” here: https://ports.ua/macn-ru/;

2. legal support for leading maritime associations

In 2020 Law Firm «ANK» became legal adviser to the Maritime Chamber of Ukraine and continued to provide ongoing legal support to the Odessa Sea Port Stevedoring Companies Association. These organizations bring together the leading companies in the maritime industry. As part of its legal support, the experts at Law Firm “ANK” participated in discussions, drafted and provided their own legislative proposals on issues of importance to the port industry regarding construction work in the water areas of seaports; the procedure for investment compensation; the methodology for the calculation of port charges; the lease, concession and privatization of port infrastructure; the rules for the provision of services in seaports; the procedure for the maintenance of the Seaport Register; establishment of a National Transport Regulatory Commission; development of multimodal transport, etc.

On a separate note, when amending the Seaport Services Regulations, it is worth noting that Law Firm «ANK» was able to achieve a compromise mechanism of cooperation between the state and business on the implementation of dimensional and weight control in port terminals. ANK experts continue to support the implementation of such a mechanism at selected terminals;

3. establishing a precedent in the Supreme Court for the wrongful environmental control of maritime vessels

Throughout 2020, Law Firm “ANK” continued to support a number of court cases heard by Ukrainian courts of different instances on claims of shipowners whose vessels were subjected to illegal control of isolated ballast in Ukrainian seaports. In September 2020, the Supreme Court handed down a precedent-setting ruling in a case involving BW Dry Cargo Ships Limited, a member of the BW GROUP (headquartered in Singapore). We have written about the main findings of the court in this case and its relevance to all similar cases of illegal environmental inspections at seaports in the article: https://ports.ua/effekt-vlasti-ot-kotoroj-nevozmozhno-zashhititsya/;

4. accompanying the signing of an agreement to raise Delfi

Law Firm «ANK» acted as a consultant to Brooklyn-Kyiv in negotiating and signing a trilateral agreement with ASPU and Craneship for the lifting of the sunken tanker Delfi, which, following a successful operation, was lifted and towed off Odessa Beach in September 2020.