The Fifth Annual International conference “Practice of Maritime business: sharing experience: “Bill of Lading in Progress” took place in Odessa, Ukraine in Grand Pettine Hotel on May 28-29.

It gathered about 80 delegates from 12 countries. The subject of the conference was focused on peculiarities of Ukrainian and international practice of one of the most important documents of maritime business, namely, Bill of Lading. The event was organized by “International Law Offices” (Ukraine) and “Law Firm Remedy” (Russia) with the support VARAMAR (Ukraine) and ROSSGOSTRAKH (Russia).

The conference attracted speakers from seven countries of Europe. Special attention was paid to the talk of the First Deputy Head of Odessa Commercial Sea Port Yury Vaskov who reported on “The Fourth Function of the Bill of Lading”. He emphasized the national requirements towards circulation of the Bill of Lading in relation to the customs clearance of cargoes in Ukraine and explained the reasons why the local practice differs so much from international regulations and practice.

One of the most interesting speeches was the report of Jose Alcántara (Spain) who shared with the audience the truth about the real carrier under the Bill of Lading by means of the bright presentation.

Andrey Suprunenko (Russia) presented quite an impressive report underlining common mistakes while completing bills of lading. The practice shows sometimes it is not an easy thing to do. Zeynep Ozkan (Turkey) made a short comparative analysis of the Hague, Hague-Visby and Hamburg rules.

It should be noted that all speeches and presentations were very practical. During the second day of the conference Thomas Wanckel (Germany), Andrew

Rigden Green (Great Britain), Alexey Gagarinov (Russia), Henri Najjar (France), and Alberto Batini (Italy) in their talks highlighted other important moments of the b/l circulation like NVOCC concept, electronic b/ls, etc. and tried to show who can be liable under the bill of lading.

During all sessions professor Alexander Balobanov (Ukraine) and Mehmet S. Dogu (Turkey) were very active as provocative opponents keeping speakers and audience alive.

A vivid dialogue was brought forth by the master class of Nikolay Melnykov and Nataliya Myroshnychenko (Ukraine) on “Laytime and Demurrage”. Another interactive session was presented by International Law offices as well (Artem Skorobogatov) and was dedicated to “Shortage in Ukraine”. Anyone could state his own vision on the issue, comment and remark coming form his own experience and knowledge. Everyone noticed that they have never seen so many interactiveness on conferences and seminars.

The organizers proposed to the delegates to consider the economic crisis as a springboard for consolidation of the existing positions and suggested finding new opportunities in the business despite difficulties in these turbulent times. On the coffees delegates exchanged views and ideas and established new business contacts.

I would like to underline that International Law offices always focused on practical aspects of maritime business and has never taught anyone on annual conferences in Odessa and seminars in Saint Petersburg. We always liked them as sharing experience. Believe me, this year it was not easy to get speakers for the conference and arrange their coming to Odessa. In the current crisis circumstances and unstable times I’d like to say special thanks to our partners ROSGOSSTRAKH and VARAMAR who supported us this year. Thanks to the port of Odessa, Nautical Institute of Ukraine, Odessa and regional authorities and other information partners. During two days of the conference we had a look at all key issue of bill of lading, found new business contacts and colleagues, enjoyed the friendly atmosphere and communication.

See you next May in Odessa!