Maritime arbitrators get the congress they deserve

IT may be said that the plan was hatched in the nether regions of the capital city of the Soviet Union. Moscow boasts perhaps the most elegant subway system in the world, resembling an architectural mix of La Musee du Louvre in Paris and Victoria Station in London. What more unlikely place for a small group of maritime arbitrators to meet and plan future venues?

In 1972, the organisers of the International Congress of Commercial Arbitrators decided to hold its fourth congress in Moscow. As then-president of New York's Society of Maritime Arbitrators, I decided I should go and investigate what plots were hatched at these international meetings. To my great pleasure and surprise, who should I find there, making similar investigations, but my London friends Cedric Barclay and Clifford Clark and Roger Jambu Merlin, president of the Chambre Arbitrale de Paris.

On the second or third day of ICCA, the schedule called for a discussion of arbitration in different countries as practised in the building trades. What a bore. So Cedric, with his usual smooth approach, suggested that we four maritime arbitrators might stage our own congress. The next question was where the audience was to be found.

I don't know if it was Cedric who induced our Russian hosts, Professor Sergei Lebedev and George Maslov, to provide the audience. But, in any case, we found ourselves one afternoon in a conference room at the ministry of merchant marine sitting in front of an audience of about eighty men and women. With little or no notice, we were asked to describe the workings of our respective arbitration systems to an audience which consisted of members of the Moscow maritime bar, shipping executives from various Soviet shipping companies, some cadets from the merchant marine academy and George Maslov and Sergei Lebedev, who acted as interpreters where necessary. What more natural location could anybody imagine for ICMA I to take place?

It was the next day that we found ourselves in the Moscow subway, watching Cedric speak to anybody who would listen, in Russian or Turkish or any other language, and apparently feeling quite at home. So while waiting for the next train to arrive, the idea was mooted that this sort of exchange of ideas should be expanded to include more arbitrators and maritime lawyers. So Cedric undertook to investigate the possibility of holding a full maritime congress the following year, or whenever it could be arranged. The baby was born.

I suppose it was some time in 1973 that we in New York heard from Cedric, asking if we could arrange for a group of arbitrators and attorneys to attend a congress in Athens the following year.

My recollection is that about ten US arbitrators and a similar number of attorneys indicated interest. So in the autumn of 1974 ICMA II took place in Athens. The congress took place in a new and previously uninhabited hotel on the beach a few miles outside Athens. Some papers had been prepared in advance and a pleasant exchange of ideas took place in idyllic circumstances. In addition to the working sessions our Greek hosts had arranged several interesting tours, including a visit to the Parthenon, a night in the Plaka at a typical Greek restaurant where we all had a great time and danced and threw plates in recognition of the entertainers. Some of us motored to Cape Sounion to greet the dawn at the Temple of Poseidon, which is an unforgettable experience.

At this first full ICMA, twenty nations sent representatives, and of course all the delegates wanted to know when the next congress would be held.

Thanks to the help and influence of Signor Francesco Berlingieri, ICMA III took place in Santa Margherita in 1976. A record number of delegates from more than twenty countries attended the third congress. The papers had been prepared in advance and were made available to each delegate. This practice has been continued ever since.

Back to roots

The English members of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association then decided it was time to move the epicentre away from the Mediterranean and issued an open invitation to hold ICMA 1V in London.

Not surprisingly, nobody could resist the opportunity to visit the home of maritime arbitration and the invitation was readily accepted.

So ICMA 1V was held at the Hilton Hotel on Park Lane in 1979. The English weather co-operated most of the time and no doubt this helped to make the congress so memorable. After all, where else in the world can one find such a plethora of maritime expertise - commercial judges, smooth barristers and specialist solicitors, not to mention the most renowned maritime arbitrators.

Perhaps it was the decision to hold ICMA in London which attracted so many delegates from all over the world.

We had the pleasure of hearing from a few English judges and some leading barristers. And after all the important business of the congress was concluded, delegates were treated to a memorable evening at a formal dinner in the Guildhall, arranged by the LMAA, led by Clifford Clark and Cedric Barclay.

Bite at Big Apple

In 1981 it fell to New York to host ICMA V. The Society of Maritime Arbitrators co-opted the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and the Association of the Bar of the City of New York to help in the preparations for what was expected to be the biggest ICMA of all. Delegates from 35 nations were represented, and papers were delivered by 46 speakers.

The various topics of these papers highlighted the expanding scope of maritime arbitration throughout the developed world. The emphasis at this congress was very much dominated by speakers from England and the US. It will be seen how much things changed as time progressed.

The SMA held the congress at the Vista International in the downtown area of New York. The Vista was built as part of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre and, at that time, was the only hotel in the business district of New York City. The Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the Honorable Wilfred Feinberg, was the keynote speaker.

It was back to Europe for ICMA V1. For this congress an invitation was received from the Chambre Arbitrale Maritime de Monaco to convene in the capital of the principality, Monte Carlo in October 1983. Professor Giorgio Righetti, president of the chambre, was a delightful host and enticed nearly 160 delegates from 24 different countries. This congress was marked by the expansion of interest from many countries apart from England and the US. Close to a hundred of the delegates came from the other 22 countries.

Casablanca calls

For ICMA V11 delegates were allowed, for the first time, to vote for the conference venue and chose Casablanca by a small majority over the other contender, Tokyo. Thereafter, some delegates suggested that a more formal organisation be established to decide ICMA venues. One idea had been for a permanent secretariat to be founded, and Jose Maria Alcantara of Madrid offered the services of his office to establish just that.

It was decided to establish a permanent steering committee consisting of a delegate each from New York and London, plus the organising societies of the previous and current ICMA locales. This committee is charged with enquiring about and examining all possible invitations between each congress so that, at the next ICMA, a fully detailed plan can be presented to delegates with the formal recommendation of the steering committee backing the best offer.

The delegates can then formalise this recommendation. The committee first undertook this task in 1989 at the Hamburg congress, where it consisted of London, New York, Madrid and Hamburg.

In the meantime, ICMA V11 had taken place in Casablanca in October 1985, followed by ICMA V111 at Madrid in 1987. The Madrid congress was held at the elegant Palace Hotel in the heart of the city, only a short walk from the Prado Museum. The congress was administered most successfully by a special committee of Spanish lawyers and arbitrators under the chairmanship of Jose Maria Alcantara. At least 27 countries were represented, and this congress was notable for the first appearances from several South American countries as well as India and the People's Republic of China.

From sunny Spain to northern Europe, where ICMA IX was hosted by the German Maritime Arbitration Association under the able presidency of Hartmut von Brevern in Hamburg in September 1989. Delegates from 25 countries heard 58 papers delivered at the Congress Centrum. At the end of the congress the steering committee proposed that ICMA X be held in Vancouver, Canada. This was greeted with acclaim by delegates, and a very successful congress took place in September 1991.

It was in 1989 that Cedric Barclay, the founder of the concept of ICMA, sadly passed away. The steering committee decided that it would be a fitting gesture to remember Cedric by instituting a special event in his honour. The first Cedric Barclay Memorial Lecture was given in Vancouver by the Honorable Michael Mustill of the English Court of Appeal. This was followed in Hong Kong by the Honorable Charles S Haight of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and the third memorial lecture was given in Paris by the Honorable Anthony Clarke of the English Court of Appeal.

From Vancouver, ICMA took a major step by recognising the development in shipping and maritime arbitration in the Far East, and ICMA X1 was held in Hong Kong in May 1994. This congress was remarkable in being co-hosted by three different arbitral organisations - the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre, the China Maritime Arbitration Commission and the Tokyo Maritime Arbitration Commission of the Japan Shipping Exchange Inc.

The congress was greeted with a keynote speech by the governor of Hong Kong, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, and the rest of the congress was maintained at that lofty level under the able management of the president of the HKIAC, the Hon Mr Justice Kaplan. Over three days, 58 papers were delivered and a mock arbitration was presented with the purpose of highlighting procedural methods in various countries, principally those of Hong Kong, England and the US. At the conclusion of ICMA X1, the steering committee recommended that the next congress be held in Paris.

So in June 1996 ICMA XII opened at the Grand Hotel on the Grande Boulevarde in Paris next door to the famous Opera House, hosted by the Chambre Arbitrale Maritime de Paris under the presidency of Professor Pierre Bonassies and vice-president Pierre Dardelet.

Close to a hundred delegates from 26 countries particpated in the congress, at which 49 papers were delivered. The mock arbitration again was a great success.

At this congress the steering committee was asked to decide between the merits of offers to host ICMA X111 from Australia and New Zealand. After much deliberation, the committee chose New Zealand, and ICMA X111 will take place in Auckland from March 1-5, 1999.

Not bad for an organisation that started life on the Moscow subway.