Navigating Through Geopolitics: The Strait of Hormuz, Safe Ports and Legal Considerations

The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important chokepoints, representing a 21

nm-wide vulnerability for the global oil and natural gas trade and consequently, the global

economy. It is the only maritime route by which crude can be shipped from the oil-rich

Persian Gulf to the rest of the world. Between 2023 and 2025, the Strait carried roughly 21% of the world's daily liquefied natural gas and petroleum liquid trade, playing a central shaping

role in the world’s economy, ultimately driving the political dynamics between States.

Read the full Article below researched by Lynne Mokbel during her summer 2026 internship at Michael Papadopoulos LLC.

Navigating Through Geopolitics.pdf

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Happy Chinese New Year - The Year of the Snake

Publication of List of Shipping Companies specifying the Administering Authority - Directive 2003/87/EC.

The long awaited List has now been published on 30 January 2024.

The EU Emissions Trading System (the "EU ETS") has been extended to the maritime industry since 1 January this year.

The Union Registry keeps track of the ownership of allowances held in electronic accounts, just as a bank has a record of all its customers and their money.

For Non-EU shipping companies they have been attributed to the Administrative Authority in the Member States in which they had had the most port calls in the preceding four years. The new Implementing Regulation prescribed that data from SafeSeaNet was to be be used to attribute non-EU shipping companies to Member States based on port calls. The aim is for a Shipping Company to be allocated to the Administering Authority to which it is most closely connected. There may be local variations in the processes and documentation required with different Administrative Authorities.

It is reminded under the new Implementing Regulation the party responsible for submitting allowances under the EU ETS is the registered shipowner. It will require the registered shipowner to formally delegate their EU ETS obligations by mandate in order to shift the responsibility to others. The delegated entity will not be able to open a Maritime Operator Holding Account (MOHA) until these formalities have been completed. However, any party may open a Trading Account at any time. Cyprus' National Administrator is the Department of the Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment.