Book review  

Book Review



The Law of Tug and Tow, 2nd Edition by Simon Rainey QC (Informa Professional £210/$357/€368).

The author of this comprehensive book reminds readers how far towage has moved from the days when towage meant little more than steam tugs assisting sailing ships to speed them on their voyages. In particular, he cites the development during the second half of the 20th century of the towage demands of the offshore oil industry.

In this second edition, the subject of towage in relation to the removal of wrecks has received greater prominence including a full review of the standard forms devised by BIMCO for the purpose. The increasing consciousness of the need to avoid pollution continues to amplify the need for a through analysis of this aspect of towage.

At a more general level one realises that, as with salvage with which towage is so often linked, the need for tugs for other than manoeuvring within a port is likely to be a surprise event for the average shipoperator.

It is, perhaps, this very unpredictability of the need to contract with a towage company that makes this authoritative volume all the more important.




Arbitration Practice and Procedure – Interlocutory and Hearing Problems, 3rd Edition by D. Mark Cato. (Informa Professional £250/$25/€438)

The sheer size of the volume (1,500 pages) is surely excellent value for money. This 3rd edition is able to examine the full impact of the 1996 Arbitration Act and makes reference to over 200 new cases since the 2nd Edition.

Much of Britain’s pre-eminence in the Arbitration field is that the hearings are private and the decision is confidential to the parties involved. Appeal to the courts is only permissible in very exceptional circumstances or when a point of law has to be clarified; thus the outcome of many disputes never becomes generally known.

For this reason, a book of this nature becomes essential and its manner of approaching frequently asked questions in the form of a dialogue of question, answer and example makes the book especially easy to use.

This book is an obvious essential in an arbitrator’s bookshelf and any shipbroker contemplating a career in arbitration should ensure he or she has easy access to it.





International Maritime and Commercial Law Yearbook 2003, edited by Professor Francis D Rose (Informa Professional £95/$162/€166)

This slim, 150-page book contains a veritable mine of fascinating accounts on significant developments in maritime and commercial law. It includes cases, many of which having reached the highest courts, from UK, Australia, Canada and the US.

The very first case to be mentioned was from Australia. It sets out a very simple scenario of an exporter entrusting a shipment to a freight forwarder (perhaps we here would call him and non-vessel operating common carrier) and the shipment was damaged on passage beyond repair.

What action if any can the shipper take against the actual (physical) carrier when the contract is between the shipper and the NVOC? And what protection do the actual carrier’s exclusion clauses afford if the shipper sues in tort? An open and shut case? It went all the way to the highest court to get the answer which, of course, the reader will get on buying this interesting booklet.

Almost all the cases are equally intriguing and even if their actual outcome is not material to the reader, anyone with an interest in the law will find this an absorbing read.





European Coastal Zone Management – Partnership Approaches, edited by Robert W. Dixon-Gough (Ashgate Publishing Limited £42.50)

This is a quite different book from the general run of text and reference book customarily considered in this column. Its 236 pages contain a collection of 15 papers subscribed by a wide variety of contributors. A fairly common theme is the need for the coastal zone to be given the same attention by conservationminded individuals and groups as is afforded to inland areas.

Altogether an interesting read about a subject many of us seldom seriously think about.