Maritime and shipping disputes — charterparty disagreements, cargo claims, demurrage and laytime disputes, shipbuilding contract disputes — have used arbitration as the default dispute resolution method for longer than almost any other commercial sector, with standard-form charterparties routinely carrying pre-drafted arbitration clauses.
Because shipping is inherently international, seat selection and choice of governing law carry particular weight — London, Singapore and increasingly Indian seats each carry their own body of arbitral practice and case law that specialist counsel and arbitrators are expected to know.
Demurrage and laytime disputes in particular are highly formulaic and document-driven, making them strong candidates for a fast-track or documents-only procedure rather than a full evidentiary hearing.