The burning question of how to guard against potential legal disputes linked to the 2020 fuel transition is the most common enquiry faced by the North P&I Club's freight, demurrage and defence (FD&D) legal team, according to deputy director Tiejha Smyth.
With technical experts suggesting shipowners should start the process of changing from heavy fuel oil to 0.5% low-sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) six months or more before the deadline of 1 January 2020, she points out almost all charterparties negotiated today will have to consider how the fuel switch will be managed.
