Through our offices in Norway and Singapore we assist clients ranging across the shipping industry, many of whom are significant players within their respective sector of business. These include, i.e.:
- Ship owners
- Air lines and financial players in the aviation industry
- Ship yards
- Charterers
- Insurers and underwriters (P&I, hull and cargo)
- Ship brokers and ship registers
- Norwegian and foreign shipping banks
- Several coastal states and ship registers
- Equipment suppliers to the offshore and shipping industry
- Norwegian and foreign companies in the oil sector, including oil companies and service providers as rig owners and seismology
Additionally, Vogt & Wiig act as representative for the Marshall Islands’ and Barbados’ ship registers.
We are proud to have the experience and resources to assist our clients 24 hours a day, whenever a situation should require our attention. Strong and broad expertise combined with well-established connections with experienced maritime and shipping lawyers all over the world, enable us to assist our clients in situations where it is required to act immediately, also when cross-border advice is needed.
Vogt & Wiig has, as well as handling a large number of shipping transactions the past few years, acted as counsel in several significant marine cases before Norwegian Courts as well as being instructed in most of the high profiled marine casualties affecting Norwegian owners or insurers. This include i.e. "Leros Strength", "Amorgos", "Hual Europe", "Pergamos", "Petrolia", "Tricolor", "Rocknes" and the "Full City" grounding.
Our lawyers’ expertise covers the entire area within shipping, offshore and aviation.
Maritime law: has been one of our main areas of expertise ever since the firm was established. Our team enjoys international recognition and we assist, and have considerable experience, with the entire field of maritime law, including marine casualty work, liability, as ship owner’s liability, collision liability, oil pollution liability and questions on limitation in that regard. Furthermore, our lawyers have a particular expertise with ship arrest and other enforcement proceedings, and advice on salvage and General Average, as well as public maritime law such as assisting the investigating authority following a marine casualty (previously known as ”maritime declaration”). Our team has considerable expertise with regards to dry shipping, such as charterparty issues and Bills of Lading. Traditionally, a significant part of our work is marine insurance, including hull, P&I and issues on conditions of insurance.
Company formation and flotation and jurisdiction: In connection with founding and establishing companies, we assist with choice of company structure and jurisdiction, tax issues arising when establishing or re-establishing companies, managing companies, vessels and other installations, as well as on choice of flag and nationality.
Ship and rig building and repair contracts: We have extensive experience with shipbuilding and offshore constructions, both on behalf of ship/rig owners, banks and yards. Through our teams in Norway and Singapore, we have assisted with more than 100 shipbuilding contracts the past two years, in i.a. Norway, Korea, China, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam and Indonesia. We are the main legal advisor to a major Norwegian yard and closely involved with ancillary design and equipment contracts. We have assisted ship owners against financial distressed yards, including re-negotiations of contracts, calls under Refund Guarantees and various legal steps in the relevant jurisdictions. Furthermore, we have assisted on several re-sales of new-buildings, including disputes, various discussions on behalf of or against yards regarding possible cancellation of vessels after fall in market value, major refinancing of new-buildings and sale/leaseback structures of new-buildings and projects, including related disputes and repossessions. In addition we have experience with assisting buyers of rig construction contracts in several jurisdictions, hereunder China and Russia.
Transactions: We have a recognised team advising on transactions within the fields of shipping, offshore and aviation, including sale and purchase of ships and rigs and sale/leaseback transactions.
Financing: is a field where our lawyers hold considerable experience, and assist with i.a. the documentation required when financing ships and rigs as well as issues in respect of company law and mortgage, security and charges. We have developed a special expertise within project financing and syndications the past few years. However, as a result of the economic downturn we see a growth with regards to restructuring and similar processes.
Aviation: Based in our strong history within the fields of shipping and offshore, we have developed a considerable expertise within aviation and are proud to say we are a leading law firm within this field as well. Vogt & Wiig had a considerable involvement with the establishing of Norwegian, the largest low-cost airline in the Nordic region. Norwegian’s two founders were both partners in Vogt & Wiig. Since then, we have advised and assisted in the management of this and other airlines, as well as advising Norwegian and foreign banks. We advice on regulatory and insurance issues, sale and purchase as well as registration and leasing. We also have lawyers with an extensive experience from the board rooms in the aviation industry, giving us a unique expertise to advice players in the aviation industry on commercial and company legal issues.
Oil and gas: The past few years, we have assisted Norwegian and international oil companies with issues in connections with sale and purchase of oil related business, including licences. We have negotiated and handled disputes in relation to rig building and leasing contracts, as well as management contracts. Furthermore, we have expertise with regulatory issues in connection to Environment Health and Safety rules, the relations between each participant and the operator within each single-licences as well as continuous advice to publicly listed companies.
Our expertise is recognised in the marked and Legal500 wrote in their 2011 edition that:
"Advokatfirmaet Vogt & Wiig AS' `knowledge, strenght-in-depth, and value for money are the best in Norway´ ".
"Teams in Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Singapore comprehensively cover dry and wet shipping".
"Vogt & Wiig, with a significant presence in the maritime finance sector, is `a lot better than the average competitor´ ".
Chambers Europe wrote in their 2011 edition that:
”Shipping law constitutes a large portion of this long-established firm's practice. It handles many contentious and non-contentious matters, with experienced practitioners in all areas of the field. Clients appreciate the team's efficiency and observe that it consists of "many partners, all of whom work to a very high standard." ”
IFLR1000 writes:
“They are very strong in the shipping industry. ..the quality they deliver in that sector is said to be outstanding.“