Five questions for Niels van der Noll, UNUM Arbitration and Mediation

Who are you and what is your job?

My name is Niels van der Noll. I have been working in the port and shipping industry since 1 February 1990. A Rotterdam native, I have worked in the port of Amsterdam for many years, since 1994 as a P&I Club Correspondent. My working area has since long expanded to all Dutch seaports and beyond. My current activities include that of secretary of UNUM Arbitration and Mediation.

What does a typical day for you look like?

Fortunately, there is no typical day for me. Besides working for UNUM, I carry out a number of other activities in and outside the maritime sector, including through my own company Niels van der Noll – Advocate (“Pleitbezorger”).

When I limit myself to UNUM, the work is focused on administering arbitration proceedings and everything related to that. That means maintaining contact with parties and arbitrators in all ongoing proceedings. Managing advance payments. In new cases, opening a digital file and appointing arbitrators.

Other duties include preparing for board meetings, developing promotional activities to put UNUM and arbitration in the Netherlands even better on the map. A nice combination of managing the portfolio of cases, promoting arbitration and mediation in the Netherlands and contributing to the improvement of knowledge about arbitration.

What was the best advice (workwise) someone gave you?

After working for a few years in various positions in the shipping industry, I was introduced to the work of a P&I Club Correspondent. That opened up a whole new world for me, which I enjoy working in to this day. Through the P&I work, I also came into contact with maritime arbitration. Getting into P&I work was really great advice I received.

How could you be of help to others in the industry or the RMSC?

UNUM is a very suitable platform for resolving conflicts through arbitration or mediation. With competent arbitrators, which parties can select themselves, and modern arbitration and mediation rules, conflicts can be resolved through UNUM relatively quickly and at reasonable costs. UNUM has much to offer the international maritime and logistics sectors in terms of conflict and dispute resolution.

Personally, I am always ready to provide parties with further information on this and to discuss good reasons to include UNUM clauses in an agreement or in General Terms and Conditions.

And lastly: what’s in the news which relates directly to your profession?

A recently published survey (April 10, 2024) on business mediation indicates that companies and lawyers with experience of business mediation judge this form of conflict resolution positively.

The added value of engaging a mediator, especially (but certainly not exclusively) to manage the conversation between parties and address the parties’ emotions has been confirmed again. Moreover, mediation can also be a good option in cases of serious escalation of the conflict.

The success rate is high: the chance that a conflict will be resolved through mediation is as much as 80%.

I am an advocate of using mediation more often to resolve conflicts and disputes in the maritime sector!