On 23 October 2015, the 14th Meeting of Mannheim for inland waterway law was held, on which the DTG was represented by board member Roberto Spranzi. In his capacity as honorary Vice Chairman of the “Schifferbörse zu Duisburg-Ruhrort e. V.” (Old Freight Exchange in Duisburg-Ruhrort, registered association) he gave a lecture on the new arbitration of the Schifferbörse, established on 17 June 2015. This arbitration, which is specialized in cases of inland waterways, offers quick and final decisions, thus saving time and money. In a dispute, the parties choose one arbitrator each from a group of experts – either a lawyer, an engineer, a nautical or an insurance salesman – and declare their willingness to accept the award.
Despite the anticipated criticism of lawyers, which was not entirely unfounded regarding lack of transparency or suspension of statutory limitation, the organizer affirmed after the meeting that exclusively positive feedback had been given.
Other topics of the meeting were the responsibility of piloting and developments in inland navigation law.
