Transport & Merchant Shipping

AEQUITAS regularly advises clients on a variety of issues pertaining to legal regulation of transportation activities in Kazakhstan. The practice embraces the issues of transportation by road, railway, maritime, and multimodal transportation, logistics, international trade, and cross-border supply chains.

The firm's projects embrace comprehensive research of legislation, support of investment and business projects, including advice on the issues of relations between transporters, forwarders, freight dispatchers, and their clients. AEQUITAS lawyers also advise on the issues of licensing, customs regulation, transportation contracts, and application of international conventions on transportation.

The firm has been engaged to perform full due diligence of major Kazakh transportation companies in the context of M&A transactions economically significant for Kazakhstan. The team regularly participates in projects relating to the development of transportation and logistics infrastructure, and operation of international transport routes.

The firm's lawyers were engaged by to draft the Merchant Shipping Law and Railway Transport Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

AEQUITAS is one of a few local law firms possessing experience in the merchant shipping area. For many years, the firm was representing BUE in connection with its contractor work and sea transportation services for an oil consortium in the Caspian offshore zone. The team supported the projects involving maritime shipping, seafaring and port infrastructure.

AEQUITAS advised major international banks (Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB Bank Plc. and other) on a range of merchant shipping matters. AEQUITAS clients are leading international and local companies from transportation, logistics, industrial, and financial sectors.

Services

• Advice on different matters pertaining to local and international legislation in the sphere of transportation and merchant shipping.
• Preparation of legal opinions on various issues relating to the state regulation of transportation activities.
• Drafting and review of shipping contracts involving different means of transportation.
• Integrated legal support in transactions whose subject matters are means of transportation (railway rolling stock, aircrafts, sea vessels, motor cars and pipelines).
• Legal expert review of shipping contracts, vessel chartering contracts, cargo insurance contracts, vessel insurance contracts, third party liability insurance contracts and other legal instruments.
• Legal assistance in the procedure of acquiring the right to fly the Kazakhstan flag for sea vessels.
• Legal support in the procedure of sea vessels registration in the Kazakh registers of vessels, and aircraft registration.
• Obtainment of licenses for all types of merchant shipping activities.
• Obtainment of permits for foreign vessels coastal navigation.
• Legal support in M&A transactions, including due diligence of target transportation companies.