DENMARK Law and Practice Contributed by: Johannes Grove Nielsen and Camilla Søgaard Hudson, Bech-Bruun
For instance, due to the instability in the Red Sea, Maersk have reported that they are cur - rently avoiding the Suez Canal due to security concerns linked to the attacks in the Red Sea. Instead, Maersk and other lines are re-routing ships around the Cape of Good Hope, leading to unavoidable increases in the overall travel time and fuel costs. The implications for the performance of con - tracts are set out in 8.1 Non-performance of a Shipping Contract , where the same factors would be in play. 9. Additional Maritime or Shipping Issues 9.1 Other Jurisdiction-Specific Shipping and Maritime Issues The Brussels I Regulation, which regulates juris - diction, is supplemented by the Danish Merchant Shipping Act, which contains jurisdictional rules applicable to carriage of goods by sea. These rules take precedence over the general rules provided in the Brussels I Regulation. The Danish Merchant Shipping Act provides that a jurisdiction clause cannot limit a plaintiff’s right to commence proceedings: • at the place where the defendant is domi - ciled; • at the place where the agreement was entered into, if the defendant has a branch or place of business or the like there; • at the place where the goods were loaded; or • at the place where the goods were or should have been discharged.
This means that the plaintiff can always com - mence proceedings in those jurisdictions even if an exclusive jurisdiction clause states differently. As these places of jurisdiction are not identical to the places of jurisdiction laid out in the Brus - sels I Regulation, the Danish Merchant Shipping Act provides that the Brussels I Regulation takes precedence. As a result, the place of jurisdiction provided in Section 310(1) will no longer apply. Subsequent to Brexit, the jurisdiction of a dispute concerning carriage of goods by sea between a party domiciled in Denmark and one domiciled in the UK will be regulated solely by the Danish Merchant Shipping Act if proceedings are initi - ated in Denmark. The effects are (inter alia) that, due to Brexit, a plaintiff may choose to initiate proceedings in one of the jurisdictions provided by the Danish Merchant Shipping Act, irrespective of an exclu - sive jurisdiction clause. This means that, within the field of maritime litigation, and especially with regard to disputes arising out of the carriage of goods by sea to or from Denmark, Brexit has increased the number of places in which proceedings may be initiated, irrespective of an exclusive jurisdiction clause agreed upon between the parties. When taking into consideration that one of the world’s largest carriers is in fact Danish, this may actually entail changes in the current statistics and the UK’s dominant market position concerning the provi - sion of maritime services globally.
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