Ince & Co Flashcards
Where are ince & Co in London?
London Office
Ince & Co LLP, International House
1 St Katharine’s Way
London E1W 1AY United Kingdom
Where are Ince & Co’s offices?
Our offices
Beijing
Duba
Hamburg
Hong Kong
Le Havre
London
Monaco
Paris
Piraeus
Shanghai
Singapore
In which sectors do the majority of Ince & Co’s clients operate?
aviation, energy, insurance, international trade and shipping.
Our clients own, build, manage, finance, lease or insure the high value, often mobile assets that play a fundamental part in today’s competitive global markets.
What type of advice do Ince & Co give?
Our advice covers commercial disputes, transactional and corporate matters including contracts, commercial issues, employment, finance and property.
How big are Ince & Co?
With over 600 people, including over 95 partners and more than 180 other lawyers worldwide, we practise English, French, German, Greek, Hong Kong and PRC law. Singapore law advice is provided by Incisive Law LLC with whom Ince & Co in Singapore has a Formal Law Alliance.
Who is Ince & Co’s International Senior Partner?
International senior partner: Jan Heuvels
Who are the key people at Ince & Co?
Aviation: Gillie Belsham
Business & Finance: Stephen Jarvis
Energy: Jeremy Farr
Re/Insurance: Chris Jefferis
International Trade: Stuart Shepherd
Shipping:
Paul Herring, Global Head of Shipping
Faz Peermohamed, Global Head of Admiralty
David Baker, Global Head of Finance
Michael Volikas, Global Managing Partner, Shipping
Albert levy, Global Head of Yachts & Superyachts
What was Ince & Co’s revenue in 2012/13?
£91.7 million (2012/13)
What awards / recognition has Ince & Co received recently?
Seatrade Asia Maritime Law Award 2014, 2013, 2011, 2010, 2009 and 2008
Super Lawyers UK names Ince lawyers as Super Lawyers and Rising Stars in 2014 and 2013
Firm Winner for Greece – International Law Office (ILO) 2013 Client Choice awards: two lawyers also named as individual winners for shipping & transport, in Greece and Singapore
International Law Firm of the year for Shipping – Chambers China Awards for Excellence 2013
Winner of Best Work Placement Scheme – City Firm: LawCareers.Net Training & Recruitment Awards
Roll On Friday’s Firm of the Year 2013 and 2012 – employee satisfaction survey
Client Choice award for 2014
Give an overview of shipping.
Shipping Overview
Contributed by Ince & Co
The market
Despite the shipping market remaining flat, there seems to be the general feeling that we have reached the start of the recovery, with some subsectors beginning to show positive signs and commentators being cautiously optimistic.
Overcapacity remains a key problem within the industry overall, which continues to serve to keep rates low. Consolidation is also a key theme in the market, both amongst shipowners and brokers who are trying to find ways to reduce overheads and become more productive given the low rates.
The problem remains that while shipyards continue to get some orders, both because of low rates and the support from state owners, the volume of cargo remains flat.
Ship finance
Many traditional ship finance banks have exited, or are still in the process of exiting, the ship finance market. However there have been some new entrants, and those banks that remain active have been competing again for business from the larger owners. The problem area is the smaller owners; there are very few banks that are interested in providing finance for a smaller owner looking to obtain funding to buy one or two secondhand vessels.
Unless things change many smaller owners will go out of business. Consolidation is also being driven by private equity providers and the capital markets, both of which have, to some extent, come in to fill part of the bank funding gap. Private equity and the capital markets also like newbuildings and sizeable owners. As a result larger owners are able to raise very significant sums, assisted in many cases by the export credit agencies in China and Korea, to order numerous newbuildings which may hasten the next shipping crisis.
Legislation and regulation
The shipping industry is experiencing a rapid and fundamental transformation in the regulation of environmental issues, with implementation deadlines looming amidst a climate of continuing economic and technological uncertainty.
Those operating vessels must deal with imminent and costly changes in the regulation of exhaust gas emissions (coupled with the likely expansion of existing emission control areas), in circumstances where the effectiveness of emissions abatement technology remains unclear and there is neither adequate infrastructure nor security of supply for alternative fuels.
A similar challenge is faced with ballast water management regulation, the pressure mounting to install highly expensive equipment without assurance of compliance with a new and already fractured regulatory regime. In addition, owners must deal with the costs of significant changes in the MARPOL rules for disposal of cargo residues and hold washing water, at a time when development of the necessary port reception facilities for compliance with the revised regulations has not kept pace with the legislators’ expectations.
Competition issues are at the forefront of many shipowners’ minds, particularly for those in the container and car carrier market where a number of high-profile cases are already making press headlines. The decision of the Chinese competition authority to block the P3 alliance illustrates the inevitable difficulties of achieving efficiencies by combining forces. The lack of one global competition authority for the shipping industry exacerbates the uncertainty over whether larger alliances will be possible, and owners will continue to look for ways to save costs and consolidate their operations. However, the sector is seeing a number of new, smaller alliances between the relatively few players in the market, as they try to manage the swings in the sector’s rates.
International sanctions
The wide-ranging reach of sanctions legislation introduced primarily by the UN, USA and EU, and the consistent interest of the media in reporting possible sanctions breaches, has continued to make sanctions a prominent focus area for the shipping industry and international traders. More recently, events in Ukraine have given rise to the introduction of various sanctions against Russia. This, together with the extended suspension of certain Iranian sanctions, reinforces the need for shipowners and charterers to keep abreast of this continuously developing area.
Who are Ince & Co’s main competitors?
Shipping - UK-wide
Band 1
Holman Fenwick Willan LLP
Ince & Co
Reed Smith LLP
Band 2
Clyde & Co LLP
Hill Dickinson LLP
Stephenson Harwood LLP
Band 3
Bentleys, Stokes and Lowless
Campbell Johnston Clark Limited
MFB
Mills & Co
Norton Rose Fulbright
Thomas Cooper LLP
Winter Scott LLP
Band 4
Birketts LLP
Eversheds LLP
Waltons & Morse LLP
Watson Farley & Williams
Band 5
Andrew Jackson
Curtis Davis Garrard
Davies, Johnson & Co
Gateley
Jackson Parton
Lester Aldridge LLP
TLT LLP
Weightmans
