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Expertise

Nathan is a partner in the national Transport, Shipping & Logistics group.

Nathan works closely with businesses in the shipping, logistics, road transport, commodities and offshore sectors, specialising in providing commercial and regulatory compliance advice and resolving disputes.

Nathan’s clients include local and foreign ship owners, operators and charterers; international P&I and Defence Clubs; freight forwarders and logistics providers; road transport operators; bunker suppliers; towage and salvage providers; offshore sector service providers; importers, exporters and manufacturers; commodities traders; stevedores; vessel manufacturers; local marine operators and luxury yacht owners.

Nathan has developed a reputation for providing commercially responsive and business-driven advice and assistance. He has been recognised as a leading ‘Admiralty, Shipping & Maritime Law’ lawyer by Doyle’s Guide since 2015 and listed in The Best Lawyers in Australia since 2016 for Transportation Law and since 2019 for Shipping and Maritime Law. Nathan is also ranked in the Shipping category of the latest Chambers Asia-Pacific guide and recognised as a national leader in the Australian shipping space by Who’s Who Legal.

Experience

Nathan has particular expertise in relation to commercial, regulatory and disputes issues relating to domestic and international transport and logistics.

Maritime transport

Nathan advises his clients in relation to all aspects of commercial law, liability, regulation and dispute resolution, with a particular focus on the carriage of goods by sea, charter parties and contractual arrangements, commercial terms, ship arrest and admiralty, regulatory and oil spill prosecution, government procurement and tendering in the maritime sector and litigation/arbitration in relation to liability defence and recovery of claims.

Road transport & Chain of Responsibility

Nathan has particular expertise in relation to heavy vehicle regulation and the Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws. He regularly advises businesses and their executives on compliance, conducts compliance audits, assists businesses to develop and implement CoR compliance policies, manage incident response and respond to investigations and prosecution. Nathan has worked with businesses across the sector in relation to CoR compliance, including national steel manufacturers, grain storage and handling companies, plasterboard manufacturers and distributors, logistics companies, shipping companies and importers.

General

Nathan also works with businesses in all sectors in relation to their transport and logistics function, including in relation to service contract tendering, negotiation and drafting, contractor performance management, regulatory compliance and the resolution of disputes arising from the carriage of, damage to and delay in delivery of goods and consequential losses and project delays.

Competition & Consumer Law

Within the Transport Shipping & Logistics sectors and also more generally, Nathan regularly advises businesses in relation to competition and consumer law compliance. He provides advice in relation to drip-pricing and component pricing, credit card surcharges, general surcharges and misrepresentation, cartel and anti-competitive conduct, merger control, consumer law, misleading or deceptive conduct and ACCC investigations. 

Trade sanctions

Through his involvement in international transport, shipping, logistics and trade, Nathan has an in-depth understanding of global trade, investment and supply chains and resulting familiarity with the commercial circumstances in which consideration of trade sanctions (both UNSC and Australian autonomous sanctions) arise and may be breached.

Nathan works with global, regional and national businesses, advising them on the application of Australian sanctions to their current or proposed trading and investment activities, the development and implementation of sanctions compliance programs and how to respond to commercial requests that may give rise to sanctions concerns, such as requests for changes to global shipping documentation and place of origin details in international trade and transportation.

Nathan has also provided advice to foreign businesses which have traded in or to Australia in relation to the application of Australian sanctions to them, for use in their prospectus disclosure when seeking to list on foreign stock exchanges.

Publications

28 August 2023 - Knowledge

Review of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy underway

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The federal government has brought forward its review of the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy by one year due to the significant role that Australia’s freight and supply chain network plays in the national economy. What will the review focus on and how can you be involved?

22 August 2023 - Knowledge

NHVR successfully prosecutes logging operator and its director following ongoing fatigue breaches

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

A Tasmanian-based logging company has received two Supervisory Intervention Orders (SIOs) due to undetected fatigue-related breaches. What are SIOs, when are they issued and what can we learn from this decision?

06 August 2023 - Knowledge

Executives’ duties – what are they and how can you comply?

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

As an executive of a company in the Chain of Responsibility, you must exercise due diligence to ensure your business complies with the Heavy Vehicle National Law or face penalties.

18 July 2023 - Knowledge

The HVNL’s ‘Big Five’ CoR compliance system components

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

We examine the ‘Big Five’ mandatory business practices to help ensure your business is meeting its primary safety duty under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

11 July 2023 - Knowledge

How to harness heavy vehicle safety technology and telematics

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The NHVR releases regulatory advice providing businesses with useful tips on harnessing safety technology and telematics to improve the safety of their heavy vehicle operations.

26 June 2023 - Knowledge

Judicial sale of ships in Australia

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The arrest and sale of the “Yangtze Fortune” serves as a timely reminder for maritime law practitioners about the procedure and complexities involved in the judicial sale of ships in Australia.

21 June 2023 - Knowledge

NHVR’s case learnings: Eight measures to reduce risks in scheduling heavy vehicles

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

Following a case that saw a transport company fined for primary duty offences, the NHVR has shared eight measures that schedulers, operators and employers can take to minimise the risk associated with scheduling heavy vehicles.

07 June 2023 - Knowledge

NHVR releases 2023 Safety Strategy Action Plan

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator has set out five key safety priorities and targets in its latest action plan to meet its 2021-2025 safety strategy.

26 April 2023 - Knowledge

NHVR releases regulatory advice on the meaning of ‘reasonably practicable’

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

We define what it means to be ‘reasonably practicable’ in ensuring the safety of your transport activities, as required by the primary duty in the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

03 April 2023 - Knowledge

AMSA’s compliance strategy 2023-2027: Priorities and activities for 2023

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has released its new five-year compliance strategy and supporting compliance priorities. How can vessel operators avoid being put on AMSA’s ‘watch list’?

15 March 2023 - Knowledge

Is the Heavy Vehicle National Law driving businesses out of business?

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

We look at an interesting debate on whether the current heavy vehicle safety standards are too high, driving small and medium-sized businesses out of operation.

28 February 2023 - Knowledge

Latest regulatory advice for the agricultural sector

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics, #Agribusiness

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator has released two pieces of regulatory advice to help those performing transport activities in the agricultural sector comply with their primary duty under the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

15 February 2023 - Knowledge

Supreme Court imposes tougher penalty for primary duty offences under the HVNL

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The Supreme Court of NSW has substantially increased fines, from $24,000 to $210,000, against a transport company and its schedulers for not having adequate systems and training in place to manage driver fatigue, speed and compliance with the Heavy Vehicle National Law.

07 February 2023 - Knowledge

NHVR regulatory advice on mental health released

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics, #Workplace Relations & Safety

We provide a rundown of the regulator’s latest advice to help parties in the chain of responsibility manage and improve mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

13 December 2022 - Knowledge

Company fined $3 million for failing to properly assess competence of driver

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The Supreme Court’s decision to fine a national waste company for failing to ensure the competency of its driver involved in a fatal incident has far-reaching implications for employers in the transport sector.

30 November 2022 - Knowledge

NHVR accepts $380,000 enforceable undertaking from power retailer to improve driver behaviour and safety

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) has accepted an enforceable undertaking from Origin Energy after it failed to respond to three notices requesting information on a driver who did not divert into a weighbridge.

22 November 2022 - Knowledge

Enforcement mechanisms under the HVNL

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

The Heavy Vehicle National Law provides several enforcement mechanisms for the regulators to help ensure safety throughout the road transport supply chain.

14 November 2022 - Knowledge

What compliance reporting do Executives need?

#Transport, Shipping & Logistics

It is a requirement of the Heavy Vehicle National Law that Executives must continue to ensure their business is compliant with its safety duties, so what compliance reporting needs to occur for these standards to be met?