The Law of Tug and Tow and Offshore Contracts (Lloyd's Shipping Law Library) [ハードカバー]

FROM LLOYD’S SHIPPING LAW LIBRARY: MARITIME LAW AS IT AFFECTS THE TOWAGE INDUSTRY

An appreciation by Phillip Taylor MBE and Elizabeth Taylor of Richmond Green Chambers

In the eighteen years since the first edition of this book was published, it has become the authoritative work on the largely specialized subject of towage; both ocean towage (e.g. oil tankers) and port and harbour towage.

Lord Clarke has commented in the Foreword that this was the first book to bring together the general law on the subject and also to address the specifics of towage and offshore operations, namely: general average… collision… and limitation.

Author Simon Rainey’s new third edition of the work, published by Informa as part of the Lloyd’s Shipping Law Library, is now much expanded in scope and reflects the changing needs of the towage industry and the markedly expanded range of services it provides, including its support services for the exploration and drilling industry.

We didn’t know this before, but apparently towage as we generally understand the term (the towage of one ship by another) originated with the development of the steam paddle tug in the 1820s and 1830s.
Since then, to summarize, tugs have grown more powerful as merchant vessels have grown bigger, to the point where tugs now tow oil and gas rigs as well as providing a range of other services to the offshore industries.

Because of this proliferation of services that the doughty tugboat now provides, the definition of towage has become wider. But however defined, towage, in the words of the author, ‘arises from a contract concluded between the tug and the tow. ‘The contract of towage is merely a species of contract,’ he confirms… ‘based on principles identical to any legal contract.’ You are referred, naturally, to ‘Chitty on Contracts’ for further clarification!

If you’re a practitioner swamped by the intricacies of, say, drafting offshore industry contracts, this meticulously researched and logically structured volume will be your most authoritative and reliable source of information, interpretation and advice on the subject.
There are ample resources therein for your further research, including tables of cases, legislation…rules and conventions…statutory instruments…and international conventions, rules and legislation. There’s also a table of forms and conditions. As a work of reference, the book is easy to use by virtue of its detailed and precisely organised table of contents and useful index at the back.

The appendices -- all nineteen of them ' constitute an invaluable source of reference, containing as they do, all the UK standard conditions for towage and other services, plus towage forms and much, much more. To cite just one example, the Towhire 2008 (Daily Rate) stipulates that:

‘The Tug’s Daily Rate of Hire shall be payable in advance…all hire due hereunder shall be fully and irrevocably earned and non-returnable on a daily basis.’

Would that all terms of payment were as straightforward!

For all shipping law practitioners as well as others professionally involved in shipping, the third edition of this volume is timely and certainly unrivalled in terms of its value and authority. The law is stated as at 1 August 2011.