ArbDB Chambers- XXI International Congress of Maritime Arbitrators (ICMA) in Rio de Janeiro, 8-
13 March 2020

Michael Cover travelled to Rio for this event. The original intention was that Peter McQueen would

be there as well (Peter is on the Topics and Agenda Committee for XXI ICMA) but, in the event, Peter

did not travel to Rio and Peter’s Paper “The Essential Practice of Finding Jurisdiction”, was read to by

the moderator of his session, Daniella Horton, the Hon Sec of the London Maritime Arbitrators

Association (LMAA). Michael made his presentation on “The Alleged Crisis in International

Arbitration and some Possible Fixes” in a session on “Current Arbitration Issues” on the first

Monday.

ICMA was established in 1972 as a forum for maritime arbitrators and lawyers and industry people

from around the world to exchange views and news on matters of maritime law and dispute

resolution and the challenges posed by technology and changes in the shipping industry and market.

It is generally held every two years, with XX ICMA having been held in Copenhagen in November

2017. This year, XXI ICMA was attended by about 240 delegates (with a few non-attendees, owing to

Coronavirus) and about 85 Papers were presented. These covered many issues of interest to

maritime industry and dispute resolution in the UK, internationally and in South America.

At the Closing Ceremony, it was announced that Dubai had beaten Singapore to host XXII ICMA in

2022 or 2023. We all reflected on a wonderful conference in a wonderful location and that this may

have been the last conference we attend for a long time.