More than 80% of everything traded across the globe moves by sea, and every one of those shipments carries the potential for a dispute — over cargo, a collision, a missed delivery window, or a contract clause nobody thought to clarify. Arab British Fellowship Training Academy built this course on Resolving Maritime Disputes Through Arbitration around that reality, for lawyers, legal advisors and maritime professionals who need a faster route to resolution than a traditional courtroom.

As shipping contracts and maritime transactions grow more complex, the need for flexible, effective legal mechanisms to resolve disputes between parties becomes urgent. Maritime arbitration has become the primary tool for doing that, and this course gives participants a deep, practical understanding of how it is applied — including the legal foundations, the procedures for resolving commercial shipping disputes, and the challenges practitioners actually encounter.

Who Should Attend?

• Lawyers specialising in shipping and maritime transport disputes, and legal advisors working with shipping companies.
• Judges and professionals working in maritime and shipping courts.
• Academics, researchers and anyone interested in commercial maritime arbitration.

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Explain maritime arbitration law and how it aligns with local and international legislation.
• Apply arbitration techniques to resolve maritime disputes practically and efficiently.
• Recognise the role arbitration plays in protecting commercial rights and resolving maritime conflicts.
• Build the arbitration skills needed to operate in the maritime sector.
• Think strategically about the challenges maritime arbitration will face amid economic and technological change.

Module 1: What Ends Up in Maritime Arbitration

• Disputes tied to shipping contracts.
• Cargo and marine insurance disputes.
• Collisions and environmental-damage disputes.

Module 2: Maritime Arbitration in Context — Why It Beats the Courtroom

• The definition of maritime arbitration and how it differs from general commercial arbitration.
• Its advantages for resolving maritime disputes, and its role in keeping international maritime relations stable.
• Its legal sources: international conventions such as the 1958 New York Convention, relevant national laws, and international maritime custom.

Module 3: Building a Valid Arbitration Agreement

• The elements and requirements of a valid arbitration agreement, and legal drafting that avoids an invalid clause.
• The subject-matter scope of the agreement, and who has the legal capacity to enter one.
• The legal responsibility of parties to comply with an arbitration clause, and the position of third parties.
• Pre-dispute clauses versus post-dispute agreements, and the difference between an arbitration clause and an arbitration submission.

Module 4: Constituting the Tribunal

• The number of arbitrators and how they are selected.
• Arbitrator qualifications under maritime law, and the process for replacing or challenging an arbitrator.

Module 5: Running the Hearing

• Submitting briefs and documents, and conducting hearing sessions and witness examination.
• Applying chosen procedural rules, such as the LMAA rules.
• Determining the applicable substantive and procedural law, the seat of arbitration and its legal implications, and the role of maritime custom.

Module 6: From Deliberation to Award

• The elements and reasoning behind an arbitration award.
• The timeline for issuing it, and its binding legal force.

Module 7: Enforcing and Challenging Maritime Awards

• Domestic and international enforcement procedures, including enforcement under the New York Convention and grounds for refusing it.
• Grounds for annulment and the procedures involved, including challenges based on substantial procedural violations.
• How a challenge affects enforcement.

Module 8: Choosing Your Forum — Institutional vs. Ad Hoc Arbitration

• The advantages and disadvantages of institutional arbitration, such as the LMAA or ICC.
• Comparing institutional procedures with non-institutional (ad hoc) arbitration, and criteria for choosing the arbitration body.

Module 9: Digital-Era Arbitration

• Arbitration conducted through modern technology.
• The validity of electronic signatures for maritime contracts, and the legal challenges of digital arbitration.

Module 10: Where Maritime Arbitration Is Headed

• Increasingly complex disputes in a changing maritime business environment.
• New environmental and legal pressures.
• The growing need for specialised rules tailored to maritime arbitration.