The 5th edition of the Research Seminar on Maritime, Port and Transport Law hosted at the Bologna University Law School took place from 29th of June until 2nd of July 2016. The event was dedicated mainly to PhD students and post-PhD researchers, but it was also open to the active participation of qualified lawyers in the field of Maritime, Transportation and International Trade Law.
The programme consisted of the initial lectiones magistrales by the full professors, the masterclasses held by the assistant professors and the research reports of the young academics and qualified lawyers followed by a discussion. The intense academic agenda included about 28 lectures and presentations. The focal theme of this edition of the Seminar was the concept of “vessel” and ship nomenclature, so most of the presentations dealt with the topics such as: definition of “ship” or “vessel” according to each national legislation and related issues or problems: what is a ship, which features must have, must it be self-propelled or not, has to be man-made or not, should it have the classic shape of a ship or not, should it be able to navigate actually or just potentially, must it be able to carry passengers or goods or not; definition of “ship” or “vessel” according to each single international convention, and all the related consequences; whether or not to consider as ships or vessels also other crafts, such as floating offshore platforms, FPSO, mobile offshore drilling units, jet skis, barges, houseboats, floating port facilities, floating offshore wind farms; pros and cons to qualify as a ship or not a particular craft: such as greater or lesser protection for those harmed in any accidents and for the environment, the regime applicable to workers, insurance coverages, etc.; what are the consequences, in fiscal/taxation terms if a craft is or is not to be considered a vessel. However, some other interesting topics of maritime, port and transport law were also covered, such as: merchant seagoing vessels and customs-related operations in the European Union, the legal aspects of seaworthiness in international maritime law, legal nature of port authorities, container information and privacy concerns, EU's new aviation strategy and fair competition, investment aids for EU airports and seaports, road transport contracts - challenges and perspectives in the process of EU integration, legal regime of nautical tourism ports, transport documents and electronic transport records under the Rotterdam Rules,nationality of the ship and freedom to provide maritime transport services within the EU, shipwreck and wreck removal in national, international and EU law, bareboat charter, marine insurance, ship collision and oil pollution liabilities, ship repair and shipbuilding.
The written articles of the participants will be published in a volume of a well known book series in maritime and transport law, as in the last two years - “New Challenges in Maritime Law: de Lege Lata et de Lege Ferenda”.
DELICROMAR project team members, dr. Iva Tuhtan Grgić, dr. Božena Bulum and dr. Adriana V. Padovan, actively participated in the seminar as presenters on the topics of the project. The presentations were accepted with interest and raised discussions at the seminar panels. It shows that the project topic is internationally attractive, especially in the Adriatic and other European Mediterranean countries. Some valuable contacts with Italian, Albanian and Spanish colleagues have been established with a view of the future cooperation on the project.
Detailed information on the DELICROMAR project contribution to this event is available here.