Our focus is on giving legal advice on ship financing and acquisition. Our lawyers negotiate as well as draft loan and security contracts, in many cases on behalf of the financing banks.

Our consultancy on ship financing encompasses all legal issues, from lending regulations, to common banking and bank supervision law, to loan protection and insolvency rules, as well as to private international law. Our experiences with asset and related cash flow financing models enable us to advise lenders as well as borrowers.

In order to efficiently manage the particular needs of container financing, we have created a specific team among our lawyers. This team’s expertise in that discrete sector of maritime activity runs from structuring financings, to negotiation and production of legal financing documents, as well as to drafting management and leasing contracts.

One of our core areas of practice is the consultancy on all legal issues arising in the context fo contract negotiations. In effect, we guide our clients throughout the negotiation process of financing documentations, shipbuilding and ship-purchase agreements, charter and management contracts and the amendments and terminations thereof. Our services include the drafting of all legal documents, the advice and the legal support from the negotiations through to the final documentation.

We also guide our clients through the process of ship registration, in Germany and abroad. We have abundant experience in all legal aspects of registering ships and ship mortgages with all ships registers.

As “Special Agents” of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, three of the firm’s partners are authorized to act on the ships registry’s behalf in connection with the registration and documentation of vessels. For instance, we provide for the recording of ship mortgage instruments, the authentication and verification of marine documents and certificates, and of course the timely technical support. Two of our partners, Dr. Stefan Rindfleisch and Dr. Klaus Dimigen, are also registered lawyers of the Marshall Islands and can give legal opinion on Marshall Islands law, e.g. on the registration of vessels and ship mortgages.

When needed, our global network of cooperating law offices provides us with additional resources and access to local information.

In the field of ship and container financing, our lawyers also advise on matters relating to the restructuring and reorganising of existing financing transactions where there is a need to adapt to changing circumstances and market conditions. Based on the outcome of an assessment and an evaluation of the existing financing documentation, our focus in this respect is on the development of sustainable restructuring models and the implementation thereof by amending the existing financing documentation.

In the event of an arrest or forced sale of ships, whether in Germany or abroad, we can provide comprehensive legal services. Our services extend from the preparation of the necessary steps to be taken through to their smooth implementation. With our international network of cooperating law firms we can offer comprehensive expertise on this sector. Lawyers of our firm have been advising in the context of arrests and forced sales in all port states.

Our firm advises on national and international corporate law, including the law on mergers and international M&A transactions. We advise our clients in the context of the acquisition and restructuring of companies on the shipping sector and have the relevant expertise for the setting-up of emission houses and the structuring of shipping funds. Further, we are very experienced in the incorporation of companies and the foundation of partnerships, whether in Germany or abroad.

Not least, the reorganization of corporate structures is one of our areas of practice.

We are active in the area of secondary markets for maritime fund participation: With respect to the purchase of existing ship participations, we not only provide legal advice, but also structure and draft financing documents.

On the emerging markets of offshore activities our firm offers comprehensive advice in all questions of private law relating to the maritime sector.
We have been involved in the negotiations of contracts on the construction, maintenance and financing of oil rigs as well as the negotiations of building, purchase , and management agreements for platform-supply-vessels.
Due to the development of renewable anergies the number of wind farms off the coastline of Europe increases. Our firm supports the initiators, builders, and managers of such wind farms in the context of the negotiations of the building, purchase, and management agreements for the construction- and supply-vessels and is also addvising on the agreements on the financing of these vessels.