Maritime & Shipping

We are one of the largest shipping and offshore practice teams in Japan, with many years of experience and unparalleled expertise.

Our team regularly advises owners, charterers, lessors, lenders and ECAs across all aspects of shipping including deal structuring, vessel financing, chartering, sale and purchase and restructuring.

In the LNG and offshore sectors we regularly advise sponsors and lenders JV arrangements and structuring, long-term charters including bankability, construction matters, commercial contracts, offtake agreements and limited recourse financings for a variety of vessel types including mid-and conventional LNG carriers, FSRUs, FPSOs and rigs.

We are market leaders in advising on sale and leaseback arrangements including JOLCO (Japanese Operating Lease Transactions with Call Option) financings in the shipping, LNG and container sectors.

As well as financing, our team has vast experiences in cross-border and Japanese domestic insolvency/restructuring matters in respect of ship owners/operators (in-court procedures and workout transactions) and provides advices for both of debtors and creditors.

Our team is unique in Japan both in terms of both experience and capability (with partners qualified in Japan, England and New York) and more than 20 lawyers qualified in a range of jurisdictions, including Japan, the US, Australia, Singapore, and India, most of whom speak English and Japanese among other languages.

As a full-service law firm, Nishimura & Asahi also advises on all aspects of shipping and other asset finance matters ranging from sanctions to tax, derivatives to acquisitions, dispute resolution to insolvency and restructuring and from competition to regulatory matters.

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