Maritime Consultancy · India
Maritime expertise,
Maritime expertise,
anchored in sea experience.
Lex Dux LLP is a boutique maritime consultancy providing specialist services across P&I & Claims, Cargo & Chartering, and Marine Survey & Compliance. Led by practitioners who have commanded ocean-going vessels, overseen marine engineering at sea, and managed fleet-wide regulatory compliance ashore.
The Partnership
A Master Mariner and a Marine Chief Engineer — combined decades at sea, combined decades ashore.
F.G.
F.I.C.S. (UK)
C/E
Naval Architect
DPA · CSO
Bridge and engine room expertise from people who have lived the practice — not learned it from a desk.
About Lex Dux
Maritime consultancy from people who have actually been at sea.
Lex Dux LLP was founded by a Master Mariner and a Marine Chief Engineer with combined decades commanding ocean-going vessels, overseeing marine engineering, ensuring regulatory compliance, and managing maritime commercial operations. We bring that operational fluency to consulting work for shipowners, operators, P&I clubs, and chartering firms.
The firm operates from Delhi NCR and serves clients across India and the Asia-Pacific maritime region. We are deliberately boutique — we accept engagements where our specific expertise produces measurably better outcomes than generic consultancy would.
Our Services
Three verticals. One operating philosophy.
Each vertical is led directly by a partner. Engagements are scoped narrowly and delivered hands-on — no junior-staff hand-offs, no generic consulting deliverables.
Vertical 01
P&I & Claims
When a casualty or cargo claim lands in an Indian port, you need a responder on the ground who reads the survey and the law the same day. We support shipowners, managers, and P&I correspondents across the full claims lifecycle — from pre-loss prevention to post-casualty recovery.
- Claims handling and advisory
- Pre-loss prevention surveys and recommendations
- Casualty response coordination
- P&I correspondent support and panel work
- Cargo claims and subrogation
- Container survey & inspection (Delhi/NCR)
- Independent maritime incident investigation
Vertical 02
Cargo, Chartering & Trade
Most disputes are won or lost in the drafting — a charter party clause that allocated risk badly, a laytime calculation nobody checked, a cargo that arrived without the right India import paperwork. Led by a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (F.I.C.S., UK) with hands-on charter party and trade-compliance experience.
- Charter party drafting and vetting (GENCON, NYPE, Shelltime, BPVoy, bespoke)
- Demurrage and laytime analysis
- Legal support on cargo & charter party disputes
- Import & export documentation advisory
Vertical 03
Marine Survey & Compliance
CII ratings start to bite in 2027 and SIRE 2.0 has fundamentally changed what vetting desks expect. We get fleets ready before the inspection, not after the detention — from IMO 2027 CII advisory and SIRE 2.0 preparation through to VDR navigation audit and bespoke inspections.
- IMO 2027 CII decarbonization advisory
- SIRE 2.0 & RightShip inspection readiness
- Remote navigation audit using VDR
- QMS development
- Customised inspections & audits per owner request
Experience · Anonymised
The matters we actually handle.
We do not name clients. These are anonymised notes from recent engagements — specific enough to show the work, anonymised to protect confidentiality.
P&I · Cargo Claims
Container vessel, west-coast India port — coordinated joint survey and quantum assessment on a 40-container wetting claim arising from hatch cover failure. Advised correspondent on recovery prospects and evidence gaps before quantum was crystallised. Club instructed to defend on a narrowed exposure.
Survey & Compliance · SIRE 2.0
Product tanker, Reliance / Vopak terminal rotation — pre-inspection gap assessment under SIRE 2.0 covering all four hardware, procedure, and human-factor dimensions. Photo repository rebuilt to current six-month requirement. Vessel cleared its first SIRE 2.0 inspection without any Priority 1 observations.
Cargo & Chartering · Demurrage
Dry bulk vessel, east-coast India discharge — NOR validity challenge by receivers on a 14-day demurrage claim. Full laytime statement prepared, time-bar risk assessed, and settlement-positioning analysis provided to owners' P&I club within 72 hours of instruction. Matter settled above initial receiver offer.
Survey & Compliance · CII
Operator with a fleet of four handysize bulk carriers rated C and D — gap analysis per vessel against 2027 MEPC.400(83) reduction factors, SEEMP Part III revision, and operational efficiency roadmap. Two vessels identified as likely D in 2027 without intervention; corrective action plans now under implementation.
The Team
Led by practitioners, not generalists.
Lex Dux LLP is led by three maritime practitioners whose credentials span the full operational stack — deep-sea command and chartering, naval architecture and IMO compliance engineering, and shore-side QHSE & vetting.
Founder & Managing Partner
Capt. Pramod Kumar Singh
Master Mariner (F.G.) · F.I.C.S. (UK) · LL.B.
Ten years in command of ocean-going vessels, followed by fourteen years as GM Marine Operations and Director Marine & Commercial Operations. Command across bulk carriers and tankers on diverse international trading routes; shore-side responsibility for fleet-wide regulatory compliance, DPA and CSO duties, and commercial chartering operations.
Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (F.I.C.S., UK) — a credential held by under fifty professionals in India and the international standard for chartering expertise. IRCA-accredited Lead Auditor for ISO 9001:2015 with over a decade of audit work in the shipping industry. Qualified advocate (LL.B.). Leads the P&I & Claims and Cargo, Chartering & Trade verticals at Lex Dux.
F.G.
F.I.C.S. (UK)
DPA · CSO
ISO 9001 LA
LL.B.
Director — Marine Engineering & Compliance
C/E Manu Singh
Marine Chief Engineer · Naval Architect · Inventor
Marine Chief Engineer and Naval Architect with deep expertise in ship design, engineering systems, and IMO regulatory compliance. Inventor of the Manus-Zim Modular (MZM) Hybrid Protocol — a ship design framework engineered for compliance with the IMO 2027 Carbon Intensity Indicator (CII) regime through modular power generation and structural ballast redistribution.
Holds patents in maritime safety (Safe Vessel-to-Vessel Transfer System; Mooring Line Restrainer for snap-back protection). Author of four reference books for Marine Engineer Officer (MEO) certification candidates. Leads the technical and engineering compliance vertical at Lex Dux.
C/E
Naval Architect
IMO 2027 CII
Patents
MEO Trainer
Director — Vetting & QHSE
Capt. Shreesh Shukla
Master Mariner (F.G.) · Lead Auditor · QHSE
Seventeen years across deep-sea operations and shore-side QHSE management. Senior deck officer ranks through Chief Officer on container vessels with Anglo-Eastern Ship Management, with foundational dry bulk sea service on multipurpose cargo vessels with Oldendorff Carriers. Currently shore-based as a QHSE Superintendent, coordinating RightShip vetting, PSC closeouts, and CAPA lifecycle across mixed fleet types.
Lead Auditor for ISO 9001:2015 (Quality) and ISO/IEC 27001:2022 (Information Security), with extensive experience designing and implementing integrated management systems across ISM, ISPS, MLC, and the ISO 9001/14001/45001 family. Ship Security Officer (SSO) qualified. Leads the vetting, QHSE, and audit practice at Lex Dux — RightShip and SIRE 2.0 readiness, QMS development, and customised inspection programmes.
F.G.
ISO 9001 LA
ISO 27001 LA
SSO
RightShip
17+ yrs
Port Coverage
India ports where we attend on the ground.
Coverage you can name beats a region you can't. These are the Indian ports where we deploy for casualty response, survey, and inspection work.
West Coast
- Mumbai / JNPA (Nhava Sheva)
- Kandla
- Mundra
- Pipavav
- Hazira
- Mormugao (Goa)
- New Mangalore
- Kochi (Cochin)
East Coast
- Chennai (Madras)
- Ennore / Kamarajar
- Tuticorin (VOC Port)
- Visakhapatnam (Vizag)
- Gangavaram
- Paradip
- Haldia / Kolkata (KoPT)
North India · Inland (Home Base)
- Delhi NCR — ICD Tughlakabad (TKD)
- Delhi NCR — ICD Dadri
- Delhi NCR — ICD Patparganj
- Delhi NCR — ICD Garhi Harsaru
- Ludhiana ICD
Our Delhi NCR base makes inland container survey and inspection across the North India ICDs fast and cost-effective. For the major coastal ports listed here, we attend on instruction — all are connected to Delhi by direct flight for same-day or next-morning deployment.
Our Approach
Hands-on, scoped tightly, delivered end-to-end.
We work on the matters where our specific expertise produces measurably better outcomes than generic consultancy would. Engagements are run by a partner from start to finish.
i.
Initial Assessment
An exploratory conversation to understand the matter, the commercial context, and whether our specific expertise materially helps. Conflict-clearance confirmed. Without obligation.
ii.
Scope & Strategy
A written scope of work — deliverables, timelines, fee structure, and key milestones. No engagement begins without explicit alignment on what success looks like.
iii.
Hands-on Delivery
Partner-led execution with weekly progress notes and immediate escalation of material developments. No junior-staff hand-offs.
iv.
Continuing Support
Post-engagement follow-up, training where relevant, and the option of retainer-based ongoing support for clients who want continuous expertise on tap.
Insights
Technical notes from working practice.
Notes on maritime compliance, decarbonization, vetting, P&I, and the operational realities that shape the regulations — written by the partners from client work.
Compliance
IMO 2027 CII: What the New MEPC.400(83) Reduction Factors Mean for Your Fleet
The CII regime has been live since 2023, but the reduction factors adopted at MEPC 83 make 2027 the year the ratings start to bite. Here is what changes, and what owners…
Read →Vetting
SIRE 2.0, One Year On: How Tanker Vetting Actually Changed
Read →Trade
Steel Imports and the BIS QCO Regime: How the Pre-Shipment NOC Route Worksmporting Steel into India Without BIS Certification: The Pre-Shipment NOC Route
Read →Survey
Why a Remote VDR Navigation Audit Beats a Port-Side Inspection
Read →Vetting
RightShip Deficiencies: A Closure Playbook
Read →
Get in Touch
Discuss a matter in confidence.
Send us a brief note about the situation you're looking to address. We respond within one working day — and confirm conflict-clearance before any substantive discussion.
How to reach us
For new enquiries, retainer discussions, or matters requiring urgent response — these are the right channels.
Location
Delhi NCR, India
Serving India and the Asia-Pacific maritime region
Response Commitment
Within one working day
Casualty and urgent matters: within 4 hours
Send a brief enquiry
All enquiries are treated in confidence.