The autonomous shipping revolution is just beginning, and as ever the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law (IISTL) at Swansea University is in the thick of it.
The IISTL teamed up with colleagues from UCL to organise an in-person seminar in London on some of the more awkward legal issues involved. UCL and IISTL members collaborated with a distinguished group of scholars and practitioners to discuss numerous complex private law liability and contractual issues associated with the use of autonomous ships in the context of navigation, carriage of goods and marine insurance.
In addition to Professors Baughen, Soyer and Tettenborn from the IISTL, the following presented papers at the event:
- Dr Melis Özdel, UCL
- Tom Walters, Partner, HFW
- Julian Clark, Global Senior Partner, Ince
- Peter McDonald Eggers QC, 7 KBW
The event, which was sold-out weeks beforehand, concluded with a keynote speech delivered by Sir Richard Aikens (Brick Court Chambers), previously a judge of the Court of Appeal. IISTL and UCL are planning to run another seminar later in the spring, this time to consider the regulatory and public law issues emerging from autonomous shipping.