In this Q&A we speak with Stinne Taiger Ivø who is Deputy Secretary General and Director of Contractual Affairs at the shipowner association, BIMCO
For those not familiar with BIMCO, can you explain its primary role?
BIMCO is the world’s largest shipping association, representing around two thirds of the global merchant fleet. At its core, BIMCO helps shipping operate more safely, efficiently and predictably by developing standard contracts and clauses, providing expert advice, engaging with inter-governmental organisations to shape regulations and offering practical guidance to the industry. We work across all shipping sectors and bring together owners, charterers, brokers, insurers, lawyers and other stakeholders to find balanced and commercially workable solutions to the challenges facing global trade.
What is your role at BIMCO and what do you do on a day-to-day basis?
I serve as Deputy Secretary General and Director of Contractual Affairs. My primary responsibility is overseeing BIMCO’s contractual work and our ongoing development of new or modernising our existing portfolio of contracts and clauses, which are used daily by shipping companies around the world. That involves identifying emerging industry needs, engaging with industry stakeholders and ensuring that BIMCO’s contractual products remain practical, balanced and relevant.
No two days are quite the same. One day I may be sitting in a drafting committee meeting involving industry experts from several continents and the next I may be discussing the contractual implications of sanctions, decarbonisation measures or geopolitical developments. A significant part of my role also involves listening to the market and understanding where contractual uncertainty exists so that BIMCO can help provide clarity.
What is top of your agenda currently?
The shipping industry is navigating an exceptionally complex period and much of my focus is on ensuring that the contractual framework keeps pace with rapidly evolving commercial, regulatory, technological and geopolitical developments.
Geopolitical tensions remain high on the agenda. The ongoing disruption in the Middle East has highlighted the importance of having clear contractual mechanisms to deal with issues such as voyage disruption, delays, increased insurance costs and evolving security risks. As an organisation, we are actively engaging with industry stakeholders to understand whether existing contractual solutions remain fit for purpose or whether further guidance or clauses are needed.
Sanctions continue to be another major area of focus. BIMCO has published several sanctions clauses and we continue to assess the increasingly complex sanctions landscape and decide when it is time to update our standard sanction clauses and develop additional clauses. This includes recent initiatives such as the Russia Tanker Resale Restrictions Clause for Memoranda of Agreements (MoAs), which seeks to create contractual certainty between the seller and buyer and to be included in S&P agreements.
Decarbonisation is equally high on the agenda. Shipping is undergoing a significant transition and contracts have an important role to play in supporting compliance and allocating responsibilities fairly. We continue to work on issues arising from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), FuelEU Maritime and other environmental regulations that are influencing commercial relationships throughout the shipping chain.
We are also seeing growing interest in operational measures that can improve efficiency and reduce emissions. Concepts such as virtual arrival and just-in-time arrival gain more traction now, potentially reducing fuel consumption and a vehicle to lower emissions and ease port congestion.
Another important area is ship recycling. As the current fleet ages, we expect a high demand for our contract for ship recycling, RECYCLECON, supporting safe and environmental sound recycling practices aligned with the Hong Kong Convention while balancing the interests of owners and buyers.
What makes my role particularly exciting is that the development of shipping contracts is never static. New regulations, technologies, changes of trade conditions and geopolitical developments continuously create new contractual challenges and opportunities. BIMCO’s Documentary Committee will shortly be discussing a broad catalogue of potential new projects reflecting such developments.
At the same time, we continue to maintain and update BIMCO’s existing suite of contracts and clauses. Recent years have seen extensive work on issues such as wreck removal agreements, ship management agreements, revision of HEAVYLIFTVOY but also entering into new arenas such as developing a contract for the offshore wind segment, WINDSEACON scoped for the transport and installation of wind turbine generators. This combination of maintaining established industry standards while developing solutions for emerging opportunities – or challenges – is what makes BIMCO’s contractual work both dynamic and highly relevant.
A key part of BIMCO’s role is bringing together owners, charterers, brokers, insurers, lawyers and other industry experts from around the world to develop balanced solutions that help the industry navigate this complexity with greater certainty and confidence. Looking ahead, I expect the pace of contractual development to continue accelerating as shipping adapts to decarbonisation, digitalisation, AI and an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.
What impact has BIMCO had on international shipping in recent years?
BIMCO’s contracts and clauses continue to provide the legal and commercial foundation for a significant proportion of the world’s shipping transactions.
Beyond individual clauses and contracts, BIMCO’s greatest contribution may be its ability to bring together shipowners, charterers, brokers, insurers, lawyers and other industry stakeholders from around the world to develop balanced and practical solutions. That collaborative approach and our thorough processes is the vehicle we have applied and refined for decades to create globally accepted standards reduce contractual uncertainty and disputes and facilitate international trade. We strive towards developing fair and balanced contracts and clauses which in our view have the best prospects of being accepted as standards and see market uptake at scale.
While BIMCO is best known for its contracts and clauses, our impact extends well beyond documentation. We provide geopolitically neutral advice to policymakers to connect them with operational realities to help ensure new regulations are effective and practical to implement. In recent years, we have helped the industry navigate decarbonisation, regulatory change, geopolitical disruption and digital transformation by providing practical guidance, advocating for globally aligned regulation and bringing stakeholders together to develop workable solutions.
BIMCO’s impact also extends beyond policy and commercial matters. Through awareness campaigns, we have helped tell the story of shipping and the people who make it possible, highlighting the realities of life at sea and the challenges facing seafarers. Campaign films such as Ships Make the World Go, Seafarers Deserve Support, and Breaking Better, highlight the essential contribution of shipping and have drawn attention to issues ranging from crew welfare and wellbeing to the industry’s broader social and environmental responsibilities. By bringing these issues to wider audiences, we have helped strengthen understanding of the industry’s contribution to global trade and society.
Can you explain the relationship between BIMCO and IUMI and how your organisation interacts with marine insurers?
While our organisations have different roles, there is significant overlap in the issues we address.
Marine insurers are important stakeholders in many of BIMCO’s contractual projects because contractual provisions often have implications for risk allocation and insurance cover.
IUMI represents a significant proportion of the global marine hull and machinery insurance market and is widely recognised as a leading voice on H&M insurance matters. BIMCO’s standard contracts and clauses frequently address issues that are closely connected to insurance cover, risk allocation, liabilities and the practical operation of H&M policies. As a result, the contractual framework developed by BIMCO can have a direct impact on insurability and the effectiveness of insurance cover in practice. Close collaboration and alignment is therefore important to help ensure that contractual provisions remain commercially workable, reflect insurance market realities, and support clarity and certainty for industry stakeholders.
If you could change one thing in the global maritime world, what would it be?
If I could change one thing, it would be to reduce fragmentation. Shipping is inherently global but companies increasingly face a patchwork of regional regulations and local requirements. While many of these initiatives are driven by legitimate policy objectives, the cumulative effect can be complexity, inefficiency and uncertainty for those involved in international trade. Global industries function best when there is regulatory consistency and predictability. Shipping has always thrived through international cooperation and I believe the industry’s biggest challenges, from decarbonisation to digitalisation and geopolitical uncertainty, will be solved most effectively through globally coordinated solutions rather than fragmented regional approaches.
On a personal level, how did your career take you to an involvement with BIMCO and why did you do it?
I have spent many years working in shipping, first in private practice and later in roles with a shipowners’ association and a P&I Club. These experiences allowed me to see the industry from different perspectives and shaped my understanding of both the legal and commercial issues that charterers, owners and other shipping stakeholders face every day.
I was familiar with BIMCO long time before I joined. I served on the Documentary Committee for some years as part of my previous career and I guess I have always had a strong appreciation of BIMCO’s work, its influence on the industry, and the expertise of the people behind it. BIMCO is widely recognised as the leading developer of maritime contracts and clauses and the opportunity to lead this work and help shape the contractual framework for international trade for the future was a significant motivation for me.
What do you like to do away from the office?
When I’m away from the office, my preference is generally to do something outdoors and away from a screen. One of my favourite activities is hiking, particularly the simplicity of moving from one mountain cabin to another with everything I need on my back. There is something very rewarding about slowing down, being in nature and focusing on the essentials.
In my professional role, I spend a great deal of time travelling and meeting people from all over the world, which I find both rewarding and inspiring. Perhaps because of that, my spare time is often the opposite. While I love discovering new places, I am not necessarily drawn to long-haul travel in my personal time. More often than not, I prefer destinations that allow me to be active outdoors, unwind and enjoy good company rather than rushing from one place to another. For me, the ideal balance is a combination of nature, simplicity and time with the people who matter most.
