Originally from Navigating Maritime Arbitration: The Experts Speak - Second Edition

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The focus of this chapter will be on practical rules for attorneys to follow during an arbitration proceeding and the impact of due process principles on the conduct of hearings. The various arbitral forums such as the American Arbitration Association (“AAA”), The International Center for Dispute Resolution (“ICDR”) and the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc. (“SMA”), have individual rules that govern arbitration proceedings, but the rules have many similar provisions that permit attorneys (and parties that choose to represent themselves in an arbitration),  to distill certain practical guidelines to follow in an arbitration. As the subject of this book is maritime arbitration, I will focus primarily on the June 1, 2022 revised 9th Edition of the SMA Rules. 

Even before you commence arbitration, there are several issues that you need to consider in order to avoid slowing down or derailing the arbitral process. For example, you need to determine whether the claim you are asserting is time-barred, whether you have commenced the proceeding in the proper forum and against the correct party, and whether a Court or the arbitrator will decide preliminary jurisdictional issues relating to the arbitration. On the time-bar issue, if the cargo interests are asserting a claim for loss or damage to that cargo and the charter party or bill of lading incorporates the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, the claim must be brought within one year after discharge of the cargo. 46 U.S.C.A. § 1303(6); see also Fireman’s Ins. Co. of Newark, N.J. v. Gulf Puerto Rico Lines, Inc., 349 F. Supp. 952, 957 (D.P.R. 1972) “The one-year time limit of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act is strictly enforced by the courts.” If your claim arises under a commodities contract or other commercial agreement, the statute of limitations for contract claims in the state whose law governs will control whether the claim is timely commenced.