HFW

Shipping

Partner

Ian Cranston advises clients on matters involving international trade and commodities, dry shipping, yachts, energy and offshore.

Particularly lauded for his shipping and yacht expertise, Ian regularly advises a number of the world's largest owners, charterers, traders and their P&I and FD&D insurers on both dry and wet shipping issues. His large and varied practice covers charterparty disputes, carriage of goods by sea, sale & purchase of new and second-hand tonnage (both contentious and non-contentious) and newbuilding contracts. Ian has successfully handled numerous yachting disputes in both English arbitration and court proceedings and generally advises owners, charterers, brokers and yards on matters related to yacht sale & purchase, charter, refit and construction. In the marine and non-marine markets, Ian acts for brokers, insurers and reinsurers.

Ian has close to 30 years of experience advising on all aspects of international trade transactions and has advised and represented major international trading companies on litigation, arbitration and ADR related to all aspects of their activity. His expertise includes the sale, transportation and financing, the insurance and hedging of coal, steel, metals, soft commodities, crude oil, refined petroleum products and gas and he handles related disputes ranging from contamination, shortage and late delivery claims to hedging issues. ln addition, he has drafted a number of different types of sale, offtake, storage contracts and joint venture agreements and he has advised his trader clients on their onshore and offshore corporate structures.

Ian is also very experienced in the energy sector and acts for a number of large energy operators and contractors. He has extensive experience in drafting and negotiating contracts agreements and in resolving complex disputes related to oil & gas supply, storage and transportation, FSOs, FPSOs and offshore construction & pipelines.

Ian is ranked as a Leading Individual by Chambers Europe and in the Legal 500 EMEA Hall of Fame. Clients say that he is "outstanding, a genius, always willing to go the extra mile to complete his task. His approach is always very commercial and practical" (Legal 500 EMEA 2022), and that he "is always available, extremely responsive and very quick to grasp the commercial realities of any situation" (Chambers & Partners Global 2020) and "really knows the industry" (Chambers & Partners Global 2019).

Ian is a member of the Board of Directors of the Monaco Chamber of Shipping and sits on the Board of the Propeller Club of the Port of Monaco.

English