Singapore: In November last year, the global shipping association BIMCO adopted Singapore as the third seat of arbitration in its Standard Dispute Resolution Clause alongside London and New York. Singapore Maritime Chamber of Arbitration (SCMA) rules become default procedural rules when Singapore is selected.
“This is major game changer,” argues Lee Wai Pong, executive director of the SCMA, “and is expected to tilt the balance of arbitration related work more towards Singapore from the hitherto dominant centre of London.”
SCMA has seen strong growth in the number of case references, panel of arbitrators and requests by parties for appointment of arbitrators. The diversity of cases registered is also spreading beyond disputes arising from traditional shipping contracts into contracts related to the commodities and the oil and gas industries.
As a mark of its international acceptance, more than 50% of the disputes registered non-Singaporean parties. New procedures streamlining arbitration for disputes involving collision liability apportionment and settling of survey fees will be launched soon. [2/12/13]
