BAHAMAS Law and Practice Contributed by: Richard Horton and Emma Van Wynen, Alexiou, Knowles & Co.
10. Additional Maritime or Shipping Issues 10.1 Other Jurisdiction-Specific Shipping and Maritime Issues The Merchant Shipping Act 2021, which is intended to repeal and replace the Merchant Shipping Act 1976, is expected to be brought into force this year (2026) along with a raft of new subsidiary legislation. It is beyond the scope of this article to analyse the anticipated changes in detail, but suffice to say that it represents a substantial modernisation of the mari - time legislation that has governed Bahamian shipping under the Merchant Shipping Act 1976. The 1976 Act was based heavily on the UK Merchant Shipping Act 1894 (together with certain later UK amending stat - utes – between 1906 and 1958), whereas the 2021 Act is modelled after the UK Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and brings The Bahamas into alignment with con - temporary international maritime standards and the country’s obligations under major IMO conventions.
Council sanctions related to terrorism and terrorism financing. While The Bahamas does not automatically adopt for - eign sanctions by default (such as those imposed by the EU, UK or USA on a specific country or company), such foreign sanctions carry legitimate commercial and regulatory weight in The Bahamas. Bahamian authorities and businesses take foreign sanctions seriously and will often take such measures into account in practice, particularly (for example) where correspondent banking or international insurers are concerned. In relation to the war in Ukraine, The Bahamas has implemented the relevant UN sanctions regimes aris - ing from the conflict, and the principal impact within the jurisdiction has been felt at a compliance and risk-management level, particularly within the finan - cial services, shipping and trade finance sectors, rather than through widespread trade disruption or litigation. There are no widely reported public cases of Bahamian-incorporated entities being sanctioned under Ukraine-related regimes or of domestic court proceedings arising directly from breaches of such sanctions. 9.4 International Conflict As a common law jurisdiction whose maritime and commercial law is closely aligned with English law, The Bahamas recognises that international conflicts and related disruptions to global shipping routes (including the war in Ukraine, attacks on vessels in or near the Red Sea, or loss of access to the Suez Canal) may give rise to significant legal and commercial implica - tions, notwithstanding that such events occur outside Bahamian waters. While The Bahamas is not directly affected geographically by such conflicts, Bahamian courts and arbitral tribunals would address these issues by applying established principles of contract, insurance and maritime law, with close regard to com - mon law English authorities.
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