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If you have been buying insurance for any length of time, whether for a vessel, a cargo program, or a commercial operation, you've noticed that premiums do not move in a straight line. Some years the market feels competitive, underwriters are flexible, and capacity seems abundant. Other years the same coverage costs significantly more, terms tighten, and underwriters who were previously eager for your business become selective or absent entirely. This is not arbitrary. It is

As of today, July 1, 2026, the United Kingdom's Emissions Trading Scheme has expanded to cover domestic maritime transport. For shipowners and operators running vessels on UK routes or calling at UK ports, this is not a future regulatory development to monitor, it is a live compliance obligation that began this morning. This post is a practical overview of what the UK ETS is, who it applies to, what it requires operators to do, and how it sits alongside the EU ETS framework t

China's New Maritime Code Is Now in Effect On May 1, 2026, four days ago, China's revised Maritime Code came into force. This marks the first comprehensive revision of the Code since its original enactment in 1993, and the changes are not minor adjustments around the edges. They affect cargo liability, limitation of liability amounts, the scope of who qualifies as a carrier, how damages are calculated, how limitation periods work, and, most significantly for international ope

Every major demurrage dispute begins somewhere. In the vast majority of voyage charter party claims, the starting point is not the cargo, not the port, and not the rate. It is a single document that determines when the laytime clock begins to run. That document is the Notice of Readiness (NOR), and its deceptively simple function, notifying the charterer that the vessel has arrived and is ready to perform, generates more litigation in the English courts and before London arbi

In normal market conditions, demurrage disputes are a routine feature of the shipping industry; frustrating, often contentious, but generally predictable in their mechanics. In a market shaped by the kind of disruption we are currently seeing in the Persian Gulf, with vessels stranded, ports congested, and voyage timelines collapsing, demurrage claims are going to multiply in volume and complexity at a rate the industry has not seen in decades. What Demurrage Actually Is Demu

Insurance is one of those things most people think about only when something goes wrong. By then, the question is no longer what coverage costs, it's whether you have the right kind. This post is a straightforward breakdown of what Nord Young offers across both marine and commercial lines, what each coverage type actually does, and why it matters to the businesses we work with. We work with clients on both sides of the industry divide; shipping operators who live and breathe

There are moments in maritime history that redefine how the industry operates, sometimes just for a season, sometimes for years. We are living through one of them right now. As of today, March 26, 2026, the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage between Iran and Oman through which roughly 20 percent of the world's seaborne oil and global LNG once flowed freely, is effectively closed to commercial shipping. This post is an attempt to lay out what happened, where things stand, an

"Some careers are chosen. Mine was shaped by the sea, by the contracts signed before cargo leaves port, the disputes that arise when it doesn't arrive as planned, and the infrastructure of global trade that most people never think about until something goes wrong." Where This Comes From My name is Richard Young, and I've spent the better part of my career working inside the maritime industry. Not from the shore, not at sea, but deep in the operational and legal machinery that