Maritime Litigation Lawyer in France

Short answer. A claim against the sea carrier for loss or damage is time-barred after one year, a period that can only be extended by an agreement made after the event (Article L. 5422-18 of the Transport Code). The carrier’s liability is limited to the amounts set by Article 4(5) of the amended 1924 Brussels Convention, namely 666.67 SDR per package or 2 SDR per kilogram (Article L. 5422-13), unless the damage results from its intentional or reckless conduct (Article L. 5422-14). Reservations must be given on delivery, or within three days for damage that is not apparent. Any creditor whose claim appears well founded in principle may have the ship arrested (Article L. 5114-22), the shipowner obtaining release against security, in practice a letter of undertaking from its P&I Club.

Maritime disputes have their own mechanics: short time bars, carrier liability framed by international conventions, package and kilogram limitations, jurisdiction and arbitration clauses drafted in London or Singapore, and insurers on both sides. The firm conducts these disputes for shipowners, charterers, shippers, freight forwarders, insurers and yacht owners before the French courts, coordinating with foreign correspondents where needed.

What happens in the first weeks, reservations, survey, protective arrest, choice of forum, often decides the outcome.

The risk: a claim lost through time bar, missing reservations or the wrong court

The first threat is time. Actions against a sea carrier are time-barred one year from delivery under the Hague-Visby Rules and Article L. 5422-18 of the French Transport Code, two years under the Hamburg Rules. Reservations must be given at delivery, or within three days for non-apparent damage, failing which the goods are presumed delivered in good condition. A late joint survey leaves the carrier free to dispute the cause of the damage.

The second threat is limitation: 666.67 SDR per package or 2 SDR per kilogram under Hague-Visby, shipowners’ limitation under the 1976 London Convention, contractual caps for forwarders. Finally, a jurisdiction or arbitration clause in the bill of lading or charterparty moves the dispute abroad: ignoring it leads to inadmissibility, submitting to it without analysis costs years.

The legal solution: preserve the evidence, characterise the regime, choose the ground

Every maritime dispute begins with characterisation: carriage under a bill of lading, voyage or time charter, freight forwarding, cargo or hull insurance. Applicable law, liability regime, limits, time bar and jurisdiction all follow from it.

The firm has set out these regimes in detail in its guide to maritime contracts.

Then comes evidence: reservations, damage report, amicable then court-ordered survey under Article 145 of the French Code of Civil Procedure, preservation of ship’s documents and navigation data. Then security: protective arrest of the vessel under the 1952 Brussels Convention, which compels the owner to provide a P&I Club letter of undertaking, and notice to insurers. Finally the action, before the French commercial court, an LMAA or CAMP arbitral tribunal, or the designated foreign court.

How the firm assists you

The firm acts from the moment of the casualty: reservations, formal notice, summons of all parties and their insurers to a court-ordered survey, application for arrest when the vessel is in a French port. It follows the survey, contests the cause of damage and the quantum, then negotiates with insurers or pleads on the merits.

It also handles operational disputes: demurrage and despatch, off-hire, speed and consumption warranties, safe port clauses, termination of charters, recourse between carrier and forwarder. For foreign proceedings it coordinates local correspondents and enforces the resulting decisions in France. General average, ship arrest, marine insurance and carrier liability each have a dedicated page.

Based in Paris, the firm acts in every French port, in mainland France and overseas, from Le Havre to Marseille and from Nantes-Saint-Nazaire to Antibes as well as in the French Caribbean, Réunion and New Caledonia, as well as before the Chambre arbitrale maritime de Paris, and works in English with shipowners, P&I clubs and foreign counsel.

Where the contract refers disputes to the Paris Maritime Arbitration Chamber, our CAMP arbitration cost calculator gives the amount due under the current scale, for a sole arbitrator or three arbitrators.

Typical matters

The situations below are illustrative scenarios drawn from the firm’s practice and anonymised.

Reefer containers delivered damaged at Le Havre

An importer receives three containers of fruit at a non-compliant temperature. The firm has reservations issued in time, obtains a court-ordered survey and a judgment against the carrier, the package limitation being set aside for reckless conduct established by the temperature logs.

Vessel arrested at Marseille for a charter claim

A voyage charterer is not paid its demurrage by a foreign sub-charterer. The firm obtains an arrest order, then a P&I Club letter of undertaking allowing release and the pursuit of the London arbitration.

Insurer refusing cover for unseaworthiness

The hull insurer invokes unseaworthiness to refuse a machinery damage claim. The firm establishes the owner’s due diligence and obtains cover, including salvage costs.

On protective arrest, see our article How to arrest a ship in France to secure a claim.

On cargo damage to containers, see our article Container damaged or lost: who is liable and how quickly to act.

Some maritime disputes follow a regime of their own, with specific liability rules and limitation periods. The firm has set out each of them in a dedicated page: ship collision claims, salvage awards and disputed salvage invoices, cruise and ferry passenger claims, seafarer employment disputes and wreck removal and owner liability.

Disputes concerning offshore wind farms and other installations at sea also have their own reference page: offshore wind law.

This work is part of the matters the firm handles in maritime law.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which disputes does maritime litigation cover?

Cargo claims under bills of lading, charterparty disputes over demurrage, hire and performance, collision and salvage, general average, pollution, the sale and construction of vessels, marine insurance, ship arrest and enforcement, crew claims and port operations. What they have in common is a short time bar, a technical file and an international cast of parties, which is why the first days after a casualty count for more here than in ordinary commercial litigation.

Which French courts hear them?

Commercial courts for disputes between businesses, the enforcement judge for arrests and attachments, and specialised courts for certain matters, while the criminal and administrative aspects of a pollution incident or a port accident follow routes of their own. The port of call frequently decides which French court will be seised, and several fora may be open at the same time. Identifying the right one, and the right procedural vehicle, is the first strategic decision in the file.

How is a claim secured?

By a conservatory arrest of the vessel where the claim is maritime, which is the most effective security in this field because a detained ship costs money every day, and by attachment of bunkers, freight or receivables once the vessel has sailed. Security can be obtained in France even where the merits belong to a foreign court or to arbitration elsewhere, which is the practical reason a French port is so often where a dispute is actually resolved.

What are the time limits?

Short, and they vary: one year for cargo claims under the Hague-Visby Rules, two years for actions under a marine insurance policy governed by French law, two years for collision and salvage under the relevant conventions, and different periods for charterparty claims according to the governing law. Contractual time bars and notice requirements are added on top. The first task in any file is therefore to fix the deadline and, where necessary, to obtain a written extension.

Is arbitration preferable?

Frequently, because the tribunal can be chosen for its knowledge of the trade and the award circulates under the New York Convention. The Chambre arbitrale maritime de Paris offers a procedure adapted to maritime disputes at a cost proportionate to the sums usually at stake, while London and Singapore dominate the charter market. The clause is chosen when the contract is made, and it should be read against the likely location of the counterparty’s assets.

How are surveys and technical evidence handled?

By joint survey wherever possible, organised within days of the casualty, with every interested party and its underwriters invited so that the report cannot later be dismissed as one sided. Where agreement proves impossible, a court appointed expert is obtained. Samples, photographs, electronic data from the vessel and the containers, and the log are preserved immediately. Evidence not secured in the first week is usually lost, and no legal argument makes up for that.

Before which court is a maritime dispute settled in France?

That depends less on where the damage occurred than on what the parties signed. Bills of lading and charterparties almost always contain a jurisdiction clause or an arbitration clause designating London, and that clause prevails over geographical connecting factors where it is enforceable against the holder of the bill. Where no clause applies, jurisdiction is determined by the defendant’s domicile, the place of delivery or the place of the harmful event, under the European rules or the ordinary rules of French law. Three points are therefore checked before any proceedings are issued: the version of the bill of lading actually handed over, the chain of transfer of the bill, and the existence of a Paramount clause referring to an international convention. Suing in the wrong place costs a year of proceedings and often lets the time bar run in the meantime.

Which documents should be gathered before seeking advice?

Six documents make up most of the file and can be assembled in an hour. The bill of lading or charterparty, front and back, since the conditions printed on the reverse are precisely those being sought. The reservations given at delivery, with their date and addressee. The survey report, preferably a joint one. The commercial invoice and the packing list, which quantify the loss. The cargo insurance policy and the subrogation receipt, if the insurer has paid. The exchanges with the carrier, the agent and the stevedore, including informal messages, which are often more explicit than official letters. A file handed over complete saves several weeks on a time limit that counts only fifty-two.

My insurer has paid me: do I still have an interest in bringing proceedings?

Yes, on at least two counts. The subrogated insurer brings the recourse action up to the amount it has paid, but the indemnity is almost always lower than the actual loss: the deductible, the policy limit and uncovered heads of loss, such as the stoppage of a production line, a lost contract or contractual penalties incurred downstream, remain with you. These heads of loss are claimed in the same proceedings, and it is far more effective to bring them together than to let the insurer act alone and then attempt a second action. Coordination with the insurer is also a matter for negotiation: who leads, who chooses counsel, how a partial settlement is shared. These questions are settled at the outset, in a written agreement, not when the other side makes an offer.

How long do proceedings take, and should the claim be settled?

Proceedings on the merits before a French commercial court generally take eighteen to thirty months at first instance, longer if a court-appointed expert is ordered, and an appeal often adds two years. Given these timescales, settlement is not a surrender but a calculation. The tipping point is almost always the same: the strength of the reservations and of the survey. A file in which the damage has been established jointly, dated and quantified by estimates, and in which the limitation of liability is open to challenge, settles at a high level without a judgment. A file built on assertions settles badly, however sound the legal reasoning. That is why most of the useful work is done in the weeks following the casualty.

Can the carrier always limit its liability?

No. The package or kilogram limitation, which caps compensation whatever the actual value of the goods, falls away in two cases. The first is the carrier’s inexcusable fault or wilful misconduct: a carrier that acted recklessly and with knowledge that damage would probably result loses the benefit of the cap. The second is a declaration of value entered on the bill of lading, which substitutes the declared amount for the cap, usually in return for a higher freight. The practical consequence is clear: the issue in the file shifts to proof of the carrier’s conduct, and that proof is built during the survey, by examining the stowage, the ventilation and the temperature records.

Matters in this area are handled by Hervé Guyader, avocat at the Paris Bar and Doctor of Law. Page updated on 2 November 2026.