About SMAA

History

Founded in 2004, the SMAA’s Inaugural Meeting was held on 4 March 2004. Our founding President was Mr C. Arul, a lawyer and maritime arbitrator who frequently attended events hosted by the International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators (“ICMA”).

Mr C. Arul had explained to the members attending the Inaugural Meeting that he had been for a number of years lobbying to get ICMA, the most important conference for maritime arbitrators in the world, to be held in Singapore and that in order to bid for the Conference it would be appropriate to use an association of maritime arbitrators for that purpose. As the SMAA had not yet been formed, he had initially carried out the negotiations in the name of the Maritime Law Association of Singapore (“MLAS”). The ICMA Steering Committee had suggested that the bid ought to come from the Maritime Arbitrators Association as the lead, as has been done by other countries in the past. It was then formally proposed to resolve that the SMAA should bid for, and if successful, to host the 2006/2007 ICMA conference to be held in Singapore; on a joint basis with the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (“SIAC”) and the Singapore Institute of Arbitrators (“SIArb”).

In fact SMAA’s now past President, Mr C. Arul, played an instrumental role following the passing of the resolution to proceed with the bid, which was successful. ICMA 2007 was then held in Singapore for the first time in February 2007 and was a resounding success.
At the time Singapore was still developing as a seat for maritime arbitration. Hence at the Inaugural Meeting one of the primary matters discussed were the issues and problems maritime arbitrators faced in Singapore at the time, that being the relative reluctance of maritime interests to try a relatively new seat of arbitration. The well-established seats of London and New York still had much more arbitration work due to familiarity parties have with institutions located at those places. Today, however, Singapore is already accepted as a standard seat for maritime arbitrations within the Dispute Resolution Clause of new and revised BIMCO forms issued after November 2012.

The Inaugural Meeting also witnessed members discussing in general that much time would be needed to change ingrained mindsets and highlight Singapore’s ability to match if not improve on the experience of arbitration in other parts of the globe. Thus SMAA looks to contribute towards the goal of matching if not improving on the experience of arbitration in Singapore, vis-à-vis other maritime seats of arbitration.

Since the ICMA 2007 event in Singapore, SMAA has sent representatives to the following ICMA conferences at Hamburg, Vancouver and Hong Kong. For the recent ICMA in May 2015, which was held in Hong Kong, SMAA’s presiding President, Dato’ Jude Benny, had served as a member of the Topics Committee. Both the SMAA’s President and Hon. Secretary had their papers selected for presentation to the delegates at ICMA Hong Kong.

Objectives

In accordance with the SMAA’s Constitution approved by the Registry of Societies on 2 January 2004:

To advance and encourage the professional knowledge of Singapore Maritime Arbitrators;
To keep members informed of developments in arbitration and maritime law;
To lay down standards and rules of conduct to be observed by members on connection with their work as arbitrators or umpires;
To publish and from time to time amend the terms, rules or regulations for the conduct of arbitrators;
To give any member, at his request, advice on specific questions relating to the conduct of arbitrations and to arbitration procedure;
To consider and endeavour to obtain any amendments to the law or improvements in procedure which may seem desirable;
To take any action which at any time may seem advisable to uphold and vindicate the prestige and impartiality of its members and if Singapore arbitrators; and to protect its members in connection with their activities as arbitrators or umpires;
To act as the representative of the members of the SMAA in all discussions and negotiations or dealings with authorities, organisations, institutes, companies, firms and persons engaged in or concerned with arbitration and maritime affairs.
When so requested or required to appoint arbitrators and/or umpires;
At the request of any party to any dispute to recommend any member or members for appointment as arbitrators.

Mission

To assist maritime arbitrators in Singapore to enhance their skills through interaction and discussions, and to create a platform for training and knowledge management.
The Association will endeavour to showcase the abilities and expertise of its members in various fora, so as to add value to the professional standing of its members.