Opportunities in Multiparty Maritime Arbitration

• Author: Christopher Lau
• Position: Independent arbitrator and Senior Counsel, Singapore
• Pages: 108-117

(2011) 25 A&NZ Mar LJ

The 37th Annual MLAANZ Conference

MELBOURNE

13 October 2010

Frank Stuart Dethridge Memorial Address

OPPORTUNITIES IN MULTIPARTY MARITIME ARBITRATION

Christopher Lau∗

I cannot tell you how hono ured and privileged I feel to have b een asked to give this address in memory of a great

maritime lawyer and in the footsteps of my illustrious predecessors who have delivered this opening address.

I have not had the honour of having known Frank Dethridge personally, but I have – if I may use a modern day

term – ‘googled’ Frank. I can only say I am truly sorry to have missed the opportunity not only to meet such a

learned, wise and considerate visionary but also to have worked with him. It was only in 1979, some three years

after Frank Dethridge’s untimely death, that the occasion arose for me to instruct an Australian maritime lawyer

to arrest a fleet of ships in Australian waters with the gratuitous assistance of the RAAF.

It was in that ‘hip town’ in Australia, otherwise known as Brisbane, where I grew up. A vivid recollection I have

of my time in Brisbane is of a visionary address in 1964 by Sir Garfield Barwick, Australia’s then Minister for

External Affairs and later its Chief Justice. In that address he said that Australia should give priority to its

geographic environment and realise that its long-term future was with Asian countries. This was visionary

because when you look at developments since then, there can be no doubt that Australia’s principal trade is with

Asia. The same is true of New Zealand given that six of its current top 10 trading partners are Asian.

The state of international trade today, with Asia featuring in a central role, has prompted studies into the reviva l

of the ‘Silk Road’, the ancient trade network linking Asia, the Mediterranean, North-East Africa and Europe.1

The re-awakened ‘New Silk Road’ has resulted in significantly increased oil flows between the Middle East and

China from 0.7 billion in 1999 to 4.1 billion QBTU (Quadrillion British Thermal Units – standard measure for

total energy usage; 100 000 megawatts equate roughly to 3 QBTU) in 2009. It has also seen a rise in trade flows

between the Middle East and China of US$109 billion within 14 years with CAGR (Capitalised Annual Growth

Rate) of 20 per cent and 28 per cent respectively.2

The trade flows are projected to grow at least three times by 2015.3 This is also reflected when you look at the

growth in the number of direct flights each week between the Middle East and China in comparison to the

number of direct flights between the Middle East and the US within the last 10 years.4

How does shipping feature in all of this?

The answer: it is central. North Asia accounts for more than three-quarters of global container throughput, and as

was recently pointed out by Australia’s Attorney-General, Mr. Robert McClelland, Australia uses the sea to

transport 99 per cent of the country‘s exports. New Zealand’s appears to be of the same magnitude. 5

As for Australia, in terms of value, the total nominal value of the seaborne trade between Asia and Australia in

2009 amounted to approximately US$175 billion with a total tonnage carried of about 709 billion metric tons.

∗ Independent arbitrator and Senior Counsel, Singapore.

1 See Appendix image 1.

2 See Appendix image 2.

3 See Appendix image 3.

4 See Appendix image 4.

5 See Appendix image 5.

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