The outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020 directly and indirectly affected international trade and transport. High-value claims over, indicatively, prolonged detentions of vessels by authorities in zero-Covid policy countries and consequent termination of charter parties, effectively changed the trading map. All of the various unanticipated effects of the outbreak and government restrictive measures had a dramatic effect on the ability of vessels and their crew to operate.

The Russian invasion in Ukraine in 2022 has also had a dramatic effect on ships trading, not just in the Black Sea but around the world. Some commercial vessels have been detained, caught in war operations and even subjected to attempts of wrongful expropriation. The war seriously affected grain exports, leading to spiralling food prices, famine scenarios worldwide and, eventually, a UN agreement, allowing for significant volumes of commercial food exports from key Ukrainian ports via the Black Sea amid the ongoing war.

US, EU and UK sanctions imposed following the outbreak of hostilities have further complicated shipping and trading worldwide. The export and carriage of basic commodities, such as coal and fertilizers, from Russia to EU and other ports worldwide have been excluded with certain exceptions, resulting in the sudden termination of existing fixtures and high-value disputes. The unprecedented sanctions have led to significant disruption and uncertainty in maritime trade.

The latest crisis in connection with sanctions relates to the transport of Russian oil. In December 2022, about 30 tankers laden with oil from Kazakhstan got stuck in a queue for weeks, seeking to leave the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, resulting in complex disputes over delays. Turkey required certain insurance documents to allow oil tankers pass through Turkish waters, which if provided, insurers would have been in breach of existing sanctions aiming to prevent the export of Russian oil, unless it was sold at an enforced low price or cap.

Maritime arbitration has always been the dispute resolution forum of choice since ancient times, and it continues to be particularly suited to resolve these novel and complex international disputes, which usually involve multiple jurisdictions. Parties have the option to appoint arbitrators with experience in the industry and understanding of the particularities of shipping. Furthermore, flexible arbitral procedures and enhanced enforcement prospects, via the New York Convention, often make arbitration an attractive option for maritime dispute resolution compared to court proceedings.

Ciarb’s Diploma in International Maritime Arbitration is a practical course given by experienced practitioners in the field, ideal to introduce you to the world of international maritime arbitration. This is not an academic course.  It is designed to be a practical guide, taught by top maritime practitioners.

The course aims to provide candidates with a detailed knowledge of the procedural elements of an international maritime arbitration, as practiced in the most commonly used maritime centres, using legislation based on the English Arbitration Act 1996 and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) Model Law, together with the London Maritime Arbitrators’ Association (LMAA) Terms, the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules and other maritime arbitration rules, to enable them understand and participate in such proceedings.

In addition, the course is designed to provide the candidate with the knowledge required to analyse submissions, arrive at a conclusion and write a final, reasoned and enforceable arbitration award in compliance with the Arbitration Act 1996 and maritime arbitration rules.

This course focuses on legal principles, process, practice and procedure in international maritime arbitration, the processes followed by an arbitrator in defining the issues that have to be decided by an award, dealing with the submissions made by the parties, analysing the appropriate law, evaluating the evidence, applying the law to that evidence, arriving at a conclusion and then writing a final, reasoned and enforceable award.

It is, therefore, valuable for anyone wishing to understand this topic generally, for example as a party, party representative or witness. For anyone who is considering a career as a maritime arbitrator, the course provides an opportunity to achieve Fellowship of ciarb which is in and of itself, a helpful indication to institutions and parties of a deep knowledge of arbitration practice and procedure.

George is an international dispute resolution specialist who resolves high-value and complex multijurisdictional disputes. He is a Solicitor Advocate (England & Wales) who spends most of his time involved in arbitration and as a negotiator and overall problem solver. Throughout his career, George has advised and acted for (and against) governments, commercial entities and individuals from a wide range of countries.

George has extensive English High Court experience as well as international arbitration experience with the ICC, LCIA, LMAA, SCC, and ICSID where he regularly sits as arbitrator. He also has a strong maritime background, having been a partner for many years in a leading London-based shipping law firm. He is currently Director of the CIARB Maritime Arbitration Diploma.

George is fluent in Russian and Greek.

Part 1

Candidates must take a law, practice and procedure of international maritime arbitration assessment on 10 July 2025.

This assessment is completed via LearnADR, Ciarb’s online learning platform. Candidates will be given 48 consecutive hours within a 5-day window to submit their answers online. Candidates must achieve a minimum overall mark of 65% to pass the assessment. Candidates who fail any assessment will be required to retake them as per the Candidates Regulations.

The assessment will be split into 2 parts:

Part One
Is a compulsory case study exercise with a number of questions that candidates will be required to answer worth 40 marks.

Part Two
Consists of five questions, candidates are required to select and answer three questions worth 60 marks.

Part 2

Candidates that hold a recognized Law Degree are eligible for the exemption test. This is done via the LearnADR platform on the common law and civil law of contract and tort sent out to candidates after successfully completing the Part 1 assessment. 30 questions will need to be answered within 90 minutes, with a pass mark of +70%.

Existing Fellows of the Ciarb are exempt from having to complete Part 2.

Part 3

The award writing exam will assess your ability, in the context of an ad hoc arbitration, to write an award as a sole arbitrator that withstands scrutiny under the NYC Model Law and UNCITRAL procedural rules. The award will be assessed on:

Technical merit: The drafting of the formalities and the operative award is technically accurate, comprehensive, and comprehensible.

• Comprehensive: includes a Header; names the Award, identifies the Parties, the Arbitrator and Counsel, an Introduction; the Facts of the Case; the Arbitration Agreement; the Applicable Laws and Rules to the Procedure and Substance; the Procedure for appointing the arbitrator; the Procedural History; the Jurisdiction; the Reasoning and Issues in Dispute; Pre and Post Award Interest; Costs; Dispositive, Place, Date and Signature.

• Accurate: The above details are complete and accurate including the Tribunal’s Jurisdiction and Governing Parameters, and that the Procedural History demonstrates due process and that all parties had full opportunity to present their cases.

• Comprehensible: Language, formatting and numbering do not fundamentally obscure the meaning through incoherence, or ambiguity.

Juridical Merit: All the discrete Issues in the Dispute are identified, analysed with an appropriate level of factual and legal rigour, and effectively addressed. The findings are logically and unambiguously summarised as an enforceable Award.

• The Factual and Legal Analysis: For each issue the Facts and Law are identified; the Application of the Law to the Facts is explained; a Conclusion on the resulting liability and quantum is clearly articulated. Each Issue is effectively addressed, whether Interlocutory/Preliminary, Substantive, or Evidential.

• Due Process: The Procedural History is comprehensive from the Notice of Arbitration to the Award. It includes representation and witnesses; demonstrates due process and that all parties had full opportunity to present their case; it leaves nothing unfinished.

• Costs and Interest: The award consolidates the findings on Costs and Interest comprehensively and coherently, taking account of compliance and sequencing. It includes the arbitrator’s fee, the hearing costs, procedural costs and the parties’ costs, and other costs.

• Scrutiny: The award is drafted to the standards required by the NYC and UNCITRAL Law, contains the necessary facts to counter grounds for vacatur and addresses scrutiny points including defective arbitration agreements, denial of procedural fairness, improper tribunal composition and/or procedure, excess of jurisdiction.

This assessment is completed via LearnADR, Ciarb’s online learning platform. Candidates will be given 48 consecutive hours within a 5-day window to submit their award online. Candidates must achieve 70% in Part A, Part B and overall to pass the assessment.

Part A: Focuses on the technical merit and counts as 40% towards the overall mark.

Part B: Focuses on the judicial merit and counts as 60% towards the overall mark.

The assessment is split into two stages:

Stage One: This consists of the papers in the case. They are sufficient to enable you to grasp the nature of the case and the likely legal problems. Most of the documents are extracts only. You should consider the recitals you intend to include and the relevant law.

Stage Two: This is the equivalent of the hearing stage. It includes an extract from your (i.e. the arbitrator’s) notebook. This records the oral evidence and arguments the arbitrator has heard, as well as any other relevant documents. From the evidence you must make your findings of fact. Different candidates will no doubt make different findings. This is of no consequence, except that it means there are a great many possible answers to the question. When you have made your findings of fact, write the award. It must be a final award as regards the issues you decide.

Stage One of the assessment is released via LearnADR 10 days before the assessment start date.

Stage Two is released at 12pm noon London Time on the assessment start date via LearnADR too.

Stage 2 will be available for 5 days from the assessment start date and within those 5 days, you will have 48 consecutive hours to submit your award back onto LearnADR.

Results are dispatched to candidates normally twelve weeks from the deadline date of the submission. Candidates will be informed of any delays.

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The course fee for the Virtual Diploma in International Maritime Arbitration is £5,380.50 inclusive of VAT.

Existing MCIArb and FCIArb candidates can claim a 10% discount on the full course fee by quoting their membership nuber upon registration.

The full course fee is due no later than 17 March 2025.

The course fee for the Diploma includes:

• registration onto the Diploma course
• study materials for the course, except for the material that may
  be purchased by the candidate (see below).
• Part 1 assessment.
• Part 2 exemption test.
• Part 3 assessment.

If a candidate fails any part of the Diploma, an additional re-sit fee will be charged for the relevant failed assessment(s).

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To be considered for the Diploma you must meet both of the following minimum entry requirements:

• Ciarb Members and non-members with a minimum of five years’ professional workplace experience as, for example, a lawyer, surveyor, accountant, insurer, shipbroker or similar. This experience must involve communicating with others, problem-solving, managing workloads effectively, decision-making and the exercise of judgment, and;

• You must be actively involved in and have experience of Arbitration and wish to extend your knowledge in International Maritime Arbitration procedures.

All candidates enrolling on any Ciarb course should ensure that their command of spoken and written English is adequate for the course for which they have applied. Ciarb specifies the need for its candidates to have adequate English in order to ensure that their academic progress is not hindered by language difficulties.  Ciarb issues this advice as a guideline and, while it will not require any evidence of this standard prior to enrolment on a course, candidates who do not have this standard of English may be disadvantaged.  it is recommended that they have achieved a standard that is, as a minimum, equivalent to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) level 7 or a score of 94-101 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) system but we do not require an official IELTS or TOEFL result.

Please contact the British Council for further details on how to improve your English skills: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/

How to apply

In order to be considered for this programme, please send your full CV to akhan@ciarb.org by 30 January 2025 at the latest. Should you be successful in your application, you will be contacted regarding registration and payment.

Please note that CV’s are processed in batches and as such, the review process can take upwards of 4 weeks. You will be contacted should you be successful in your application.

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