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Description
The project aims to explore the usage of mediation, an extrajudicial mean of conflict resolution, in maritime disputes.
These are of great complexity given the fact that they may involve the application of different laws; they may imply the application or consideration of several professional, corporate and ethical rules; and they may be relevant for different stakeholders (shipping companies; seafarers), but also for the wider public and citizens.
Therefore, Mediation finds in the maritime area a particularly rich field for development, but that is still underexplored. The purpose of this project is to unlock the potential of mediation in maritime issues, in order to promote an equitable and safety culture for all involved.
The project will address these challenges through a sum of deliverables. It includes an innovatory course in maritime affairs, continues with an intensive program on the maritime dimensions of mediation, and is followed by an Event and a Guidebook. Also, it previews a professional internship as a form of establishing a “list” of mediators with specialized competencies.As an end-result, the project plans to:1. Increase the knowledge on mediation and maritime disputes;2. Help to train a generation on maritime mediation;3. Draw attention to the complexity of maritime and international laws and regulations and ways to better apply them;4. Promote the use of mediation as a tool to solve maritime disputes.From this project, students, mediators, maritime professionals and other persons interested in acquiring competencies in maritime mediation will benefit, by providing adequate vocational training.
All partners will work collaboratively. However, NTNU Social Research will be the main responsible for the research taxonomy and UC will be responsible for most of the dissemination activities of the project. IPL Leiria will be the main responsible for the intensive training Program; while MARE will receive traineeships under the scope of the project.
Summary of project results
It was the purpose of the project to further develop the knowledge and build capacities related to maritime mediation, as an instrument of peaceful resolution of conflicts in a timely manner and with a view on agreements that pursue the best interests of the parties involved.
We may highlight the courses provided (the online course already with two editions, and the intensive training on maritime mediation) that were moments of capacity building for all those who wish to become maritime mediators; as well as many products delivered, such as a specific and specialised book on maritime mediation and a guidebook on the project itself and its main results, that will surely inform other projects and studies on maritime mediation. A set of workshops, some of them recorded for public viewing, accompanied the project from its beginning to its outset and allowed the project team to get in contact with the most reputed professionals in the field, that were quite interested in the results of MediMARE. They allowed also for the broadening up of the geographical scope of the persons interested in the project, with a Newsletter received by more than 300 persons and entities worldwide. As services established in an open source, four come immediately to mind. First, the taxonomy of maritime disputes that serves as a ground-breaking output that serves as a methodological basis for analysing maritime conflicts and for directing them to the proper mechanism of dispute resolution. Indeed, by using this taxonomy it will be easier for maritime operators and mediators to solve the dispute at hand in an easier and timely way, avoiding undue costs and pursuing better justice in maritime affairs. Second, the interview report with maritime operators, the first we know of the kind, that helps to understand the motivations behind the use (or non-use) of mediation and to understand the playing field in this underexplored domain. Third, the curricula on Maritime Mediation that can be used by any entity (public or private) to establish their own courses on maritime mediation with all the relevant indications to make them a full success. Fourth, the Medimare games that, using a gamification strategy, are instrumental for the experimentation of the use of maritime mediation in “hard situations”. Based on gamification good-practices and success stories in project communication, the MediMare Games were designed as a series of online games related to the project’s main issues to promote the knowledge and reflection about maritime disputes and mediation. The MediMare team has produced 3 games available for everyone: Ship’s Deviation; Damaged Cargo; and Misleading Incoterm clause.
Those main results of the project were attained through a close relation between the following axes: - An academic axis: the type and number of outputs show the soundness of the project and its interdisciplinary nature (between partners and associated stakeholders) which was a key factor for its success and a glue for all the other axis of the project. The project also left its mark in academic events. MediMare researchers were, for instance, accepted to present their work at the Congress of the IBDMAR (Brazilian Institute of Law of the Sea), held in 27 and 28 October 2022 (participation in an online format, already published in Direito do Mar V.6, Belo Horizonte, 2023, ISBN 978-65-5589-626-8), at the Congress in La Sapienza, Rome, on “Public Powers and Companies for a Sustainable Development”, on the 30th of May 2023 (in print), in the 27th World Congress of Political Science – IPSA/AISP, held between 15 and 19 July 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina (to be published). This trend has continued after the project with the presentation of a paper in the 2023 Annual Congress of IBDMAR (31 October) and in Azores (“Colóquio Internacional “A autonomia e a integração entre níveis de governação. Estudo comparado Portugal-Brasil”, held in 29 and 30 November 2023. - A private stakeholder’s axis: the interest raised by the Course was evident, as shown by the number of persons enrolled in the two online courses on maritime mediation coming from all parts of the world (for instance Brazil, East Timor, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, etc…) and the fact that applicants to the Intensive Course on Maritime Mediation had to be turned down, because they exceeded the availability of positions. Also, along the project, professional experts in several areas: ADR, Mediation, Lawyers were involved and shared their knowledge with the team and vice-versa. - A maritime operator’s axis: the project team concerned itself with the involvement of maritime operators of all backgrounds, in order to understand their experience (if any) and expectations towards mediation in their area of activity. This was particularly visible during the preparation of the interviews Reports but also in the events held during the project. - A public policy axis: The involvement of relevant public actors at national and local levels was managed through contacts with authorities (Port’s, Municipalities, General Directions) and their participation mainly in the Final Symposium where the outputs and results of the project were presents. The wished involvement of European entities was however not possible once the EMSA (European Maritime Safety Agency), although contacted, justified they could not take part in projects and the invitations to other European Officers was impossible by the fact that their trips would not be eligible under the project. - A dissemination and communication axis: The project contributed to the further knowledge of maritime conflicts and the welcomed role of mediation in this area, by a series of outcomes produced and their timely and adequate communication and dissemination. The taxonomy of maritime disputes hinted for the large number of stakeholders involved in maritime disputes. Thus, the project targeted a variety of audiences by combining different communication and dissemination activities successfully.
Summary of bilateral results
The partnership clearly led to improved knowledge and understanding of the maritime field and the role mediation could play in bettering the conditions of maritime protection, fruition and economical use. The outputs all revolve around this central idea, that is at the heart of the project, and whose consolidation was only possible through the combination of competencies and experience of all the four partners and their collaborative efforts