LLB. KU Leuven (Belgium)
LLM. KU Leuven (Belgium)
LLM. cum laude Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands)
PhD Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands)

Bio

Dr Warren de Waegh is a Senior Lecturer in Shipping Law and head of UCT Law's Shipping Law Unit. He holds an LLB and LLM from KU Leuven (Belgium); an LLM in Commercial Law (cum laude; 2018 valedictorian) from Erasmus University Rotterdam (Netherlands); and a PhD in Law from Erasmus University Rotterdam for the dissertation titled: Maritime Insolvency: The administration of maritime security interests in cross-border insolvency law.

Before joining UCT, Dr de Waegh was an Assistant Professor of Commercial Law at Erasmus University Rotterdam. He has also held positions as Visiting Scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg (Germany) and at the Maritime Law Center of Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana (US).

Research interests

Sustainability in shipping
Uniform law and conflict of laws in shipping
Insolvency of shipping companies

Teaching

Carriage of Goods by Sea
Maritime Law
Business Law II

Publications

Articles
de Waegh W, ‘The case for cooperative territoriality in maritime insolvency’ (2026) 50 Tulane Maritime Law Journal (to be published in early 2026)

de Waegh W, ‘Navigating through the Regulation of Maritime Liens and Mortgages in African Countries in the Advent of the African Continental Free Trade Area’(2023) 10 ICCLR 619

de Waegh W, ‘Boek 8.3.2 t/m 4: Rechten en voorrechten op zeeschepen en op zaken aan boord van zeeschepen’ (2022) 6 Tijdschrift Vervoer & Recht 177

de Waegh W, 'The administration of maritime liens in a European maritime insolvency: Man overboard?' (2021) 30 Norton Journal of Bankruptcy Law and Practice 355

de Waegh W, ‘Hanjin’s Insolvency in the EU and the US: The Relation between Cross-Border Insolvency and Ship Arrests’ (2019) JIML 25

Book chapters

de Waegh W, ‘Cross-border insolvencies’ in Bork R and Gadig B, Insolvency Laws in Brazil and Europe (Springer series Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice) (forthcoming 2026)

de Waegh W, ‘De scheepshypotheek: een eigenaardig zekerheidsrecht met een eigenzinnige behandeling in grensoverschrijdend faillissement’ (The ship mortgage: a peculiar security right with a wayward administration in cross-border insolvency) in Pool J and Koster H, Insolventie in context: een eerbetoon aan prof. Reinout Vriesendorp (Wolers Kluwer 2025)

Verheyen W and de Waegh W, ‘Rubriek Transportrecht’ in Dambre M, Keirsbilck B and Moens B (eds.), Geannoteerd wetboek Ondernemingsrecht (Die Keure 2019)

Local and international conference/workshops presentations

Forthcoming
de Waegh W, ‘Maritime Insolvency in an Era of Geopolitical Fragmentation: Unique Maritime Risks and International Judicial Cooperation’ CMI Colloquium Rio 2026, 14 May 2026, Rio de Janeiro

Most recently
de Waegh W, ‘Maritime Insolvency’ invited panelist in United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and International Insolvency Institute organised panel discussion, 13 May 2025, New York

Gadig B and de Waegh W, ‘Mortgages and Transaction Avoidance pursuant to the 2022 Proposal for a Directive Harmonising Certain Aspects of Insolvency Law’, INSOL Europe Academic Forum Conference, 3 October 2024, Sorrento

de Waegh W, ‘When maritime law and insolvency law clash…’, Lecture for the Belgian Association for Maritime Law, 19 September 2024, Antwerp

Professional affiliations

• Member of the Comité Maritime International (CMI) International Working Group on Decarbonisation in Shipping
• Member of Class X of the International Insolvency Institute NextGen Program
• Fellow of the European Civil Justice Centre