Last week I spoke at the monthly luncheon of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators ("SMA") about the use (orlack thereof) of SMA arbitration clauses in shipping service contracts filed with the Federal Maritime Commission. My point was that most service contracting is controlled by cargo interests. Rather than utilizing carrier drafted boilerplate, more often lately the cargo interest has its own prepared boilerplate from which the parties can negotiate. In my experience, this cargo drafted boilerplate typically includes a choice of law provision for the state law of the cargo interests home state (where Federal Law is silent) and calls for either the local Federal or State courts of cargo's headquarters or else AAAarbitration. On only a couple of occasions have I seen use of SMA arbitration clauses in cargo inspired boilerplate. I suggested to the membership of the SMA that they have a good opportunity to develop new work and educate a constituency which is wholly unfamiliar with such an arbitration forum.
If anyone has a different experience, I would love to hear from you.
