Legal services
Shipping, ports, logistics and transport: transactions and disputes in a major maritime hub.
We advise ship owners, charterers, cargo interests, freight forwarders and logistics companies on contracts, casualties, arrests and claims. The UAE is one of the world's busiest maritime centres, and we work at the pace its ports demand.
The ports of Jebel Ali, Khalifa, Fujairah and Khor Fakkan make the UAE a central node of world shipping, and a large part of the region's trade moves by road and air through Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The Federal Maritime Law of 2023 (Federal Decree-Law No. 43 of 2023) modernised the rules on ship registration, mortgages, arrest and carriage of goods, and the UAE courts and arbitration centres deal with maritime claims regularly. Transport by road and air is governed by federal law and international conventions to which the UAE is party.
Khalifa Al Sada Advocates & Legal Consultants provides legal assistance in relation to transactions and disputes involving maritime and transport matters. We act quickly when a vessel or a cargo is at stake, and we draft carefully when a long-term contract is being negotiated.
We act for:
Our clients range from a single-vessel owner in Fujairah to international lines and forwarders with offices across the Gulf.
On the transactional side we draft and review charterparties, contracts of affreightment, bills of lading terms, ship sale and purchase agreements, ship management and crew agreements, bunker supply terms and logistics and warehousing contracts. We advise on vessel registration under the UAE flag and in the free zones, on ship mortgages, and on the licensing of shipping, forwarding and transport businesses.
On the contentious side we handle ship arrests and their release against security, cargo damage and shortage claims, charterparty and demurrage disputes, collisions and casualties, salvage, crew claims, bunker disputes and claims under the road and air carriage conventions. We represent clients before the UAE courts, in arbitration before DIAC and international maritime arbitration bodies, and we coordinate with correspondents in other ports when the same matter has to be pursued in more than one country. Our debt collection department recovers unpaid freight, demurrage and logistics invoices.
Maritime work needs speed and local access. Our advocates can be before the competent court for an arrest or a release application at short notice, and our team understands both the international forms in which shipping contracts are written and the way UAE judges apply the Maritime Law to them.
We work in Arabic and English, and our associate firms in India, Turkey and Canada and our correspondents across the region extend our reach along the main trade routes that pass through the UAE.
When a vessel or cargo is at risk we assess the position the same day and advise on the immediate steps, such as arrest, security or protective notices.
We secure the documents, surveys and witness evidence, and serve the notices the contract and the law require.
We negotiate a commercial settlement where possible, or commence court or arbitration proceedings in the right forum.
We enforce the judgment or award against the vessel, the security or the party's other assets.
Yes, for maritime claims defined in the Maritime Law, by application to the competent court. Arrests can be obtained quickly and released against acceptable security.
Usually the law and jurisdiction clause in the bill, subject to mandatory UAE rules when the case is heard here. We advise on where and how to bring or defend the claim.
Time limits are short, often one year from delivery, and depend on the contract and the applicable convention. Notify us as soon as damage or shortage is found.
Yes. We act in road haulage, air cargo and multimodal claims under the applicable federal law and conventions.
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