This practice covers drafting and disputing shipping and freight contracts, cargo disputes, and matters connected to operations at Saudi ports governed by the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani).
Given Saudi Arabia's position as a major regional shipping and logistics hub, businesses in this sector often deal with cross-border elements alongside domestic port and regulatory matters.
This includes navigating port authority regulations and requirements, representing clients in disputes over cargo loss or damage, and advising on the specific liability frameworks that apply to maritime commercial relationships. Customs clearance and duty questions at the same ports run through customs & import-export.
Where a maritime dispute has a cross-border dimension, this practice coordinates with the firm's international and cross-border disputes work under Disputes & Litigation.
Demurrage charges accumulate daily while a container or cargo sits uncollected at port, meaning any delay in resolving an underlying issue — a paperwork dispute, a payment disagreement, a documentation gap — compounds the actual financial cost of that delay day by day, often far more significantly than the parties realize until the accumulated charges are actually totaled up.
We treat demurrage exposure as a genuinely urgent factor in any cargo-related matter, since resolving the underlying dispute quickly isn't just about the dispute itself — it's about stopping a separate, actively accumulating cost that continues to grow the longer the underlying issue remains unresolved.
The bill of lading typically serves as the central piece of evidence in a cargo loss or damage dispute, documenting the condition of goods at shipment, the terms of carriage, and the chain of responsibility as cargo moves between parties — meaning a dispute often turns heavily on exactly what this document states and whether the actual cargo condition and handling matched what it recorded.
We examine the bill of lading closely as a starting point in any cargo dispute, since understanding precisely what this document establishes, and where it might be silent or ambiguous on a disputed point, generally shapes the entire strategy for how the underlying dispute should be pursued or defended going forward. Shipping contracts themselves are drafted to the standards of our commercial contracts practice.
Cargo loss and damage disputes, shipping and freight contract disagreements, and matters connected to port authority regulations are common examples.
Yes — Mawani-related regulatory and operational matters fall within this practice's scope.
Yes — where there's a cross-border dimension, we coordinate with the firm's international disputes team on jurisdiction and enforcement questions.
They accumulate daily while cargo sits uncollected, meaning any delay in resolving an underlying issue compounds the actual cost significantly — we treat this as an urgent factor requiring quick resolution.
The bill of lading is typically central, documenting cargo condition at shipment and the terms of carriage — we examine this closely as a starting point in any cargo dispute.
Yes, generally — accumulating demurrage charges can turn a minor underlying issue into a significant cost if resolution drags on, so speed matters independent of the dispute's apparent size.
Expert Riyadh