Get to know Blank Rome Maritime team members Vanessa C. DiDomenico and Luke M. Reid.
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RANKINGS
Chambers USA 2025 Honors Blank Rome Maritime Attorneys and Practices
Chambers USA 2025 nationally ranked Blank Rome’s Maritime practice and attorneys in the following areas:
- Transportation: Shipping/Maritime: Finance
- Transportation: Shipping/Maritime: Litigation (New York) – #1 ranking
- Transportation: Shipping/Maritime: Litigation (outside New York) – #1 ranking
- Transportation: Shipping/Maritime: Regulatory – #1 ranking
- Offshore Energy
The firm’s ranked Maritime attorneys include: Thomas H. Belknap, Michael Bell, William R. Bennett, Jeanne Grasso, John D. Kimball, Keith B. Letourneau, Richard Singleton, Anthony Salgado, Douglas Shoemaker, Matthew J. Thomas, and Jonathan K. Waldron. Read More »
Blank Rome Global Leader: Chambers Global 2025 Ranks Blank Rome Attorneys and Shipping, Energy, International Trade, and Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practices
Chambers Global 2025 recognized Blank Rome as a global leader in Shipping: Litigation, as well as Maritime partner John D. Kimball describing him as “an experienced practitioner who handles complex shipping disputes. His practice sees him work on commercial and environmental litigation, among other disputes.” Read More »
Continue reading “RANKINGS”NEWS
Trump Administration Resource Hub
We invite you to visit our Trump Administration Resource Hub to explore our thought leadership provided by a team of attorneys dedicated to providing comprehensive analysis and actionable insights to help navigate the complexities and opportunities presented by the administration’s Executive Orders, policies, and regulatory changes. Read More »
Continue reading “NEWS”Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Team (“SWERT”)
SWERT is an interdisciplinary group of Blank Rome attorneys and government relations professionals with decades of experience helping companies and individuals recover from severe weather events, including hurricanes, wildfires, mudslides, snowstorms, earthquakes, and tornadoes. We are ready to assist those in the path of storms and other severe weather events.
Learn more at blankrome.com/SWERT.
Note from the Editor
William R. Bennett III, Editor
When you start at the bottom there is a lot of room for growth!
“We now have promise that the shipbuilding industry will flourish again, and that the skills possessed by its trained personnel will not be lost to the industry. We have promise that the American Merchant Marine will be equipped with the number and types of vessels necessary for our international trade and our national security.” That statement was included in a message published by President Harry S. Truman on August 18, 1948.
WWII led to a massive shipbuilding program in the United States, producing over 5,500 vessels over a few years time, including the famous Liberty ships. By 1948 the fleet had been reduced to around 2,500 ships. And, notwithstanding President Truman’s statement in 1948, seven years later, the American merchant marine deep-sea fleet was cut in half to 1075 ships.
Today, the United States builds about 0.2 percent of the world’s tonnage annually, while China, Japan, and Korea build 90 percent of the world’s tonnage.
The infrastructure, financing, legislation, and training that will be required to resurrect shipbuilding in the United States will need sustained unwavering support from federal, state, and local governments with significant cooperation from the private sector. Absent an “all-hands-on-deck” movement that lasts for a decade or more, history will repeat itself and American ship building will not progress.
Blank Rome Maritime is excited for the future of shipbuilding in the United States and has a team prepared to provide legal services to clients financing and building new vessels.
Spotlight on …
Get to know Blank Rome Maritime team members Kierstan Carlson, Holli Packer, and Noe Hamra.
Continue reading “Spotlight on …”RANKINGS
Blank Rome Global Leader: Chambers Global 2025 Ranks Blank Rome Attorneys and Shipping, Energy, International Trade, and Bankruptcy & Restructuring Practices
Chambers Global 2025 recognized Blank Rome as a global leader in Shipping: Litigation, as well as Maritime partner John D. Kimball describing him as “an experienced practitioner who handles complex shipping disputes. His practice sees him work on commercial and environmental litigation, among other disputes.” Read More »
Continue reading “RANKINGS”NEWS
Trump Administration Resource Hub
We invite you to visit our Trump Administration Resource Hub to explore our thought leadership provided by a team of attorneys dedicated to providing comprehensive analysis and actionable insights to help navigate the complexities and opportunities presented by the administration’s Executive Orders, policies, and regulatory changes. Read More »
Continue reading “NEWS”Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Team (“SWERT”)
Blank Rome’s Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Team (“SWERT”) is an interdisciplinary group of Blank Rome attorneys and government relations professionals with decades of experience helping companies and individuals recover from severe weather events, including hurricanes, wildfires, mudslides, snowstorms, earthquakes, and tornadoes. We are ready to assist those in the path of storms and other severe weather events.
Learn more at blankrome.com/SWERT.
Note from the Editor
William R. Bennett III, Editor
Political turmoil in the United States, war in the Middle East, and invasion and occupation in Europe. The time period: 1973–74; which confirms the aphorism that Winston Churchill repeated in a speech he gave in 1948 to the British House of Commons, that “those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” If you were H. G. Wells’ Time Traveler and transported in time from 1974 to 2024 and began reading headlines in the newspaper you would be reasonable to conclude that not much has changed. However, if you were a shipping man in 1974 and joined the Time Traveler, you would notice massive change.
In 1974, vessels built in the United States, Great Britain, and Denmark dominated the list of new ship buildings with no mention of China. Today, vessels built in China dominate the list of new launches. And, in 1974 the largest container ship in the world was the Hamburg Express with a capacity of 2984 twenty-foot equivalent units (“TEUs”). Today, the largest container ship in the world is the MSC Irina with a capacity of 24,346 TEU–a whopping increase of 800 percent. But, the most important changes that have occurred in the maritime industry involve the rules, regulations, and norms of the international maritime shipping community focused on safety, starting with the 1974 SOLAS Convention, which specified minimum safety standards for the construction, equipment, and operation of ships.
Change for the sake of change is rarely beneficial. Thoughtful and purposeful change directed by the stakeholders in any venture typically ends with positive results. The maritime industry is a great example. The rules, regulations, conventions, and industry norms promulgated and promoted by the international shipping community–International Maritime Organization, Flag State, classification societies, owners, managers, etc.,—which primarily focus on safety of personnel, the environment, and the vessel, while also considering the commercial implications of such rules, have been extremely effective since 1974 in reducing harm to personnel, the environment, and vessels and, consequently—in my humble opinion—the maritime industry is a model for other industries to follow when change is necessary.