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 »

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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 »

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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.

The FMC Announces Investigation into Flags of Convenience and Unfavorable Conditions Created by Flagging Practices

Matthew J. Thomas, Jeanne M. Grasso, Kierstan L. Carlson, Natalie M. Radabaugh ●

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (“FMC”) announced on May 21, 2025 that it is initiating a non-adjudicatory investigation into whether the: 1) vessel flagging laws, regulations, and/or practices of certain foreign governments, including the so-called flags of convenience, or 2) competitive methods employed by owners, operators, agents, or masters of foreign-flag vessels, are creating unfavorable shipping conditions in the foreign trade of the United States.

The investigation includes a 90-day public comment period, which ends on August 20, 2025. 

FMC’s “Section 19” Trade Authority

Section 19 of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, 46 U.S.C. § 42101 et seq., authorizes the FMC to evaluate conditions that affect shipping in the U.S. foreign trade and to issue regulations or take action to address such conditions. Potential remedies include port fees up to one million dollars, limits on voyages to and from U.S. ports or the amount or type of cargo carried, and other trade restrictions.

The FMC exercised this authority frequently in the 1980s and 90s (before the sell-off of the major U.S. liner operators to foreign buyers) to force market-opening concessions and eliminate discriminatory fees and trade barriers that impeded U.S. shipping companies’ competitiveness overseas. However, these powers have been left nearly dormant for the past two decades.

The current investigation does not target particular flag States or propose any remedial measures; rather, it is a non-adjudicatory investigation pursuant to 46 C.F.R. Part 502, Subpart R, which allows the FMC to request information, conduct hearings, issue subpoenas, conduct depositions, and issue reports, at its discretion.

To read or download the full client alert, please visit our website.

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.

Navigating Emission Control Areas: Operational, Legal, and U.S. Enforcement Risks of MARPOL Annex VI’s Low Sulphur Fuel Requirements

Luke M. Reid, Jeanne M. Grasso, and Holli B. Packer ●


The North American Emissions Control Area (“ECA”), which has been in force well over a decade, is one of four existing ECAs around the world. Effective May 1, 2025, the Mediterranean Sea ECA will become the fifth. In March 2026, pursuant to MARPOL Annex VI, Regulation 13, the Canadian Arctic and Norwegian Sea will also be designated as ECAs, increasing the global total to seven. These two ECAs will become enforceable on March 1, 2027. In addition to these ECAs, other port States around the world have separately implemented domestic emissions control regulations in their territorial seas, with China being a prominent example.

The establishment of these new ECAs and similar emissions control regimes throughout the world will result in an increasing number of vessels crossing ECA boundaries—sometimes multiple times on a single voyage—and on a more frequent basis. The use of different fuel types has in more and more cases led to operational and safety challenges, which has inevitably translated into heightened legal and enforcement risks. Given this expansion of ECAs worldwide, and the growing patchwork of other related port State emissions requirements, it is more important than ever to revisit the various legal and operational risks that have emerged over time, particularly those in the United States, to ensure compliance and mitigate potential risks.

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The SHIPS Act: The Advent of a New U.S. Merchant Marine Fleet?

Keith B. Letourneau ●

In December 2024, Senator Scott Kelly (D. AZ), Representative Todd Young (R. IN), and then Representative Mike Waltz (R. FL) (now the President’s National Security Advisor) co-sponsored a bill to revamp shipbuilding in the United States. Titled the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (“SHIPS”) Act, the bill did not pass in the 118th Congress, but every expectation is that it will be introduced again in 2025. In that event and should Congress enact it, the SHIPS Act will fundamentally transform shipbuilding in the United States.

At one point during World War II, the United States’ capacity to build ships was truly phenomenal. The Liberty ship SS ROBERT E. PEARY was built in four days, 15 hours, and 29 minutes. Three new Liberty ships were launched every day in 1943; over 2,700 were built during the War, in addition to over 9,000 naval vessels. By contrast, in 2022, the United States built five merchant ships, and in 2024, commissioned two U.S. Navy ships. Currently, there are only about 90 U.S. flag vessels participating in international commerce, which is supported by a global fleet of more than 110,000 merchant ships.

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Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System: What You Need to Know About the Coast Guard’s Final Rule

Dana S. Merkel, Vanessa C. DiDomenico, and Holli B. Packer ●


On January 17, 2025, the U.S. Coast Guard (“USCG”) published a final rule addressing Cybersecurity in the Marine Transportation System (the “Final Rule”), which seeks to minimize cybersecurity related transportation security incidents (“TSIs”) within the maritime transportation system (“MTS”) by establishing requirements to enhance the detection, response, and recovery from cybersecurity risks. Effective July 16, 2025, the Final Rule will apply to U.S.-flagged vessels, as well as Outer Continental Shelf and onshore facilities subject to the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002 (“MTSA”). The USCG also sought comments on a potential two-to-five-year delay of implementation for U.S.-flagged vessels. Comments were due March 18, 2025.

Background

The need for enhanced cybersecurity protocols within the MTS has long been recognized. MTSA laid the groundwork for addressing various security threats in 2002 and provided the USCG with broad authority to take action and set requirements to prevent TSIs. MTSA was amended in 2018 to make clear that cybersecurity related risks that may cause TSIs fall squarely within MTSA and USCG authority.

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Productively Pursuing and Maximizing Insurance Claims

Jared Zola ●

Maximizing insurance claims starts with locating and notifying all potentially responsive coverages when facing a loss or claim. This article offers a 101 about what types of maritime-, transportation-, and shipping-related events insurance may cover and how to go about productively pursuing an insurance recovery when disaster strikes—even if your insurance company says “no.” 

Two Overarching Types of Insurance

Without getting too far into the weeds of the many different types of insurance coverage available to policyholders, think about them as falling into one of these two broad buckets: (1) first-party insurance coverage, and (2) third-party insurance coverage. 

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Chapter 15: A More Efficient Path for Recognition of Foreign Judgments as Compared with Adjudicatory Comity

Evan Jason Zucker, Jennifer K. Malow, and Michael B. Schaedle ●


Chapter 15 of the United States Bankruptcy Code, which adopts the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law’s (“UNCITRAL”) Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, provides a streamlined process for recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding and enforcement of related orders. In adopting the Model Law, the legislative history makes clear that Chapter 15 was intended to be the “exclusive door to ancillary assistance to foreign proceedings,” with the goal of controlling such cases in a single court. Despite this clear intention, U.S. courts continue to grant recognition to foreign bankruptcy court orders as a matter of comity, without the commencement of a Chapter 15 proceeding. 

While it is tempting choice for a bankruptcy estate representative to seek a quick dismissal of U.S. litigation, without the commencement of a Chapter 15 case, it is not always the most efficient path.[1] First, because an ad hoc approach to comity requires a single judge to craft complex remedies from dated federal common law, there is a significant risk that such strategy will fail (and the estate representative will subsequently need Chapter 15 relief), increasing litigation/appellate risk and thus, the foreign debtor’s overall transaction costs in administering the case.[2] Second, the ad hoc informal comity approach is of little use to foreign debtors, who need to subject a large U.S. collective of claims and rights to a foreign collective remedy in the United States because it does not give the foreign representative the specific statutory tools available in Chapter 15—the ability to turn over foreign debtor assets to the debtor’s representative; to enforce foreign restructuring orders, schemes, plans, and arrangements; to generally stay U.S. litigation against a foreign debtor in an efficient, predictable manner; to sell assets in the United States free and clear of claims and liens and anti-assignment provisions in contracts; etc.[3]

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