Richard Springthorpe

Richard is a Master Mariner with substantial experience sailing predominantly on chemical and very large oil tankers worldwide. He has also sailed on offshore cabling laying vessels. Richard sailed as Master and also has shoreside experience managing vessel and terminal operations at a large US chemical Terminal.

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He has extensive experience specialising in investigating and managing various marine-related incidents. He regularly provides on-site guidance to Owners and is an expert at gathering witness statements and liaising with local authorities.

Richard has conducted investigations across numerous jurisdictions, managing legal cases including major groundings and salvage operations, liquid cargo contamination cases, multiple collisions resulting in capsizing and wrecks, piracy and hijacking incidents, over-pressurisation, explosions, and cases involving death and injury.

Richard’s experience as a Terminal manager assists in investigating Terminal’s liabilities in Unsafe Port cases and a review of their quantum claims in Dock Damage cases.

Richard also holds a BSc (Hons) in Marine Technology and Navigation and has an intricate knowledge of hardware and software issues impacting vessel operations and navigation. His expertise extends to various engineering aspects including metallurgy, structures, thermal, and fluid dynamics. He has been involved in designing and installing automation within liquid chemical and oil product systems, as well as running simulations for cases involving navigation disputes.

Richard contributed to the Nautical Institute publication “Command,” in which he discussed and defined the Master’s responsibility in Law.