War Risks in Shipping Contracts: The Impact of the Russo-Ukrainian Armed Conflict

• Pages: 17-29

LEX PORTUS VOL 9 ISS 3 2023

ISSN 2524-101X

eISSN 2617-541X

DOI 10.26886/2524-101X.9.3.2023.2

War Risks in Shipping Contracts: The Impact

of the Russo-Ukrainian Armed Conict

Bohdan Fasii*

*PhD in Law, Associate Professor, National University Odessa Law Academy (23, Fontanska doroha St., Odessa, Ukraine)

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8715-930X

ABSTRACT

The article reviews certain issues of maritime contractual practice in the Russian-Ukrainian

war context. Maritime supply chains have been heavily impacted by the devastating eect

of hostilities which have shaped regional crisis practices for eighteen months. Changes in

public order concerning the introduction of martial law in Ukraine have posed a signicant

challenge for the national maritime industry and all foreign actors involved. Military threats

have necessitated updating charter-parties’ force majeure and war risk sections. They have

also changed insurance policy and formed new judicial practice.

CITATION

Fasii, B. (2023). War Risks in Shipping

Contracts: The Impact of the Russo-

Ukrainian Armed Conict. Lex

Portus, 9(3), 23–35.

https://doi.org/10.26886/2524-

101X.9.3.2023.2

KEYWORDS

private international law, shipping,

public order, force majeure,

insurance, Ukraine, Russia, armed

conict, Russian Invasion

The journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-

NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Introduction

Following the start of a full-scale Russo-Ukrainian armed conict, the risks of non-

performance or improper performance of shipping contracts due to emergency circumstances

related to sanctions policy (Goldstein et al., 2022; Hosoe, 2023) and military threats (Abay et

al., 2023; Pereira et al., 2022) have become a new normal for the Black Sea. The conict has

exposed weaknesses in maritime logistics and securing the operation of international supply

chains (Fernandes et al., 2023). Against this background, it became paramount for Ukraine to

ensure the safety of export–import operations, especially their maritime component (Kormych

& Averochkina, 2022). It is impossible for most subjects of private law relations to manage

such risks; however, they must be considered. Public policy has changed during the martial

law regime, legislation has been updated, and signicant cyber risks in the operation of the

electronic maritime services system are growing (Afenyo & Caesar, 2023). Military threats

related to attacks on ships and seaports, their blockade, and mine threats are force majeure

circumstances. Such events may result in the parties delaying their obligations, revising the

contract terms, or agreeing on the contract’s cancellation (What Is Force Majeure? Denition

and Examples, 2022). At the same time, “safe places” (“safe ports/berths”) are a classic condition

of charter-parties (Faqiang & Abliakimova, 2020, p. 12), and few insurers will cover the risks

associated with hostilities (Cohn, 2022; Lebedovskyi, 2022).

Methodology

This research aims to address the issues of contractual practice in maritime transport under

conditions of war risks, using the example of Ukraine under the Russian Invasion. This concerns

the interaction of public order and force majeure categories with the consequences of an

international armed conict and martial law. A separate focus is placed on a) the practice of

force majeure conrmation in Ukraine, b) clauses on war risks in dierent charter-party forms,