Abstract
In recent years, statutes and regulations emanating from unilateral sanctions have become increasingly complex and numerous. They have had a significant impact not only on the shippers and shipowners involved in shipping operations, but also on financial institutions and insurance companies serving the maritime transport industry worldwide. Although unilateral sanctions as a phenomenon has been in existence for some time, it still remains a subject of contemporary interest which cuts across multiple disciplines and various branches of law. Recently, the detention of an oil tanker by Gibraltar in order to enforce EU sanctions on Syria has raised serious doubts about the legality of the action under international maritime law and induced the international maritime community to assess the legal and practical impacts of such action on navigation and seaborne trade.