Maritime Law in Portugal

The country’s potential and its strategic position

A country facing the sea, with a coastline of around 2,500 km, Portugal has the EU’s third-largest Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), covering 1,727,408 km², as well as deep-water ports and a strategic geographical position at the head of Europe facing the Americas and Africa, together with preferential political relations with a significant group of Portuguese-speaking countries. These factors amount to enormous potential in the sector of maritime resources and activities.

The materialisation of this potential, which remains to a large extent untapped, continues to be an objective of successive governments, including the current one. To this end, efforts have been made in recent years to provide the country with a legal framework that is more conducive to investment in this sector. Measures adopted throughout 2025 are discussed below.

Key legislative developments in Portuguese maritime law

At the legislative level, the following developments in 2025 are worth noting.

• Decree-Law No 36/2025 of 24 March, enacted pursuant to the legislative authorisation granted by Law No 21/2025 of 4 March, which amended the Legal Regime of the Professional Activity of Seafarers, approved by Decree-Law No 166/2019 of 31 October. This amendment sought to address the increase in applications for the recognition of professional certificates of foreign seafarers, reflecting labour shortages, particularly in the fishing sector, by creating a regime intended to be more flexible and expeditious. Following this legal diploma, mention should also be made of Ministerial Order No 468/2025/1 of 24 December, which establishes the types of professional certificates for seafarers, the conditions for their issuance, their validity, the revalidation procedure and the corresponding templates.

• Law No 36/2025 of 31 March, which established a moratorium on deep-sea mining until 2050, amending Law No 17/2014 of 10 April (Framework Law on the Policy for Planning and Management of the National Maritime Space) and Law No 98/2021 of 31 December (Framework Climate Law), seeking to align Portugal with good environmental practices in the mining sector.
• Law No 45-A/2024 of 31 December, which approved the State Budget for the year 2025 and enshrined two measures with a direct impact on the maritime sector.
1. On the one hand, Article 154 provided that, throughout 2025, the government was to take the necessary steps to launch an international public tender for the establishment of a regular maritime connection, by ferry, for the transport of passengers and roll-on/roll-off (RoRo) cargo between the Autonomous Region of Madeira and mainland Portugal. This provision not only reinforced the importance of maritime territorial continuity, but also bound the government to define the corresponding public service compensation and the operational and logistical conditions indispensable to the viability and stability of that service.
2. On the other hand, Article 316 required the strengthening of the technical means dedicated to the protection of submarine telecommunications cables crossing the maritime space under Portuguese jurisdiction, signalling the priority attributed to the security of critical submerged infrastructure, with implications for the allocation of resources, co-operation with private operators and the possible future development of the applicable regulatory framework.
• Decree-Law No 100/2024 of 4 December, with full effect as from 2025, which introduced the second amendment to Decree-Law No 204/2005 of 25 November, governing the specific stability requirements applicable to RoRo passenger ships, thereby transposing Directive (EU) 2023/946. This legal instrument updated the definitions of “existing ro-ro passenger ship” and “new RoRo passenger ship”, expressly incorporated the most recent versions of the SOLAS Convention, including SOLAS 2020, and comprehensively reconfigured the enhanced stability regime applicable to such vessels, whether newly built or existing ships commencing regular services to ports of member states after that date. It further strengthened the role of the Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services (DGRM) in verifying compliance with the new requirements, in the certification of vessels and in the enforcement of compliance with said Decree-Law.

Overall, legislative developments were limited in 2025. This may be viewed as a negative aspect, given the number of voices rightly calling for a modernisation of Portuguese maritime law; however, it also represents a very positive element, as it contributes to legal stability and certainty, which are increasingly essential for the development of any economic activity, particularly maritime activities, bearing in mind the substantial long-term investments they require.

Developments in commercial ports policy

It is also worth noting the government’s approval of the Strategy for Mainland Commercial Ports 2025–2035, known as Portos 5+, through Council of Ministers Resolution No 119/2025 of 24 July.

Among the various initiatives, particular emphasis should be placed on the Portuguese State’s intention to launch new port concessions – 15 by 2035 – aimed at attracting investment from both national and international private operators. The amendment to the law at the end of 2024 (Decree-Law No 92/2024 of 25 November), more clearly providing for a maximum term of 75 years, creates more attractive conditions for investors. Assuming the current government remains in office, developments in this area are expected in the short term.

Case law trends in maritime law

2025 was also significant in terms of decisions by the Portuguese higher courts, which provide a measure of the country’s economic activity and dynamism.

At the time of writing, not all judgments relating to 2025 have yet been published, but the following areas may be highlighted by way of illustration:

• ship arrest, including the arrest of third-party vessels (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 15 July 2025, case No 39/25.3TNLSB.L1-7) and issues of court jurisdiction (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 17 June 2025, case No 31/25.8TNLSB.L1-7);
• ownership of immovable property within the public domain and water resources, notably the recognition of ownership over properties located in areas of the public domain (Guimarães Court of Appeal, 13 November 2025, case No 5384/23.0T8BRG.G1);
• maritime carriage of goods in the strict sense, particularly regarding limitation periods for claims against the carrier, the scope of application of the Hague Rules vis-à-vis Decree-Law No 352/86 (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 9 October 2025, case No 104486/21.5YIPRT.L1-2) and reservations on bills of lading – specifically “said to contain” reservations in FCL containerised transport (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 1 July 2025, case No 106/21.2TNLSB.L1-7);
• multimodal transport, notably the application of the regime most favourable to the injured party where the location of the damage is unknown (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 11 September 2025, case No 4681/22.6T8SNT.L1-8), the application of limits under unimodal maritime conventions (Supreme Court of Justice, 15 May 2025, case No 55/16.6T8PST.L1.S1; Supreme Court of Justice, 16 January 2025, case No 1637/23.5T8PTM.E1.S1; Évora Court of Appeal, 8 May 2025, case No 1363/23.5T8PTM.E1; Lisbon Court of Appeal, 26 June 2025, case No 257/23.9T8FNC.L1-6; Supreme Court of Justice, 9 July 2025, case No 913/22.9T8ABF.E1.S1; Évora Court of Appeal, 18 September. 2025, case No 2602/24.0T8PTM.E1; Porto Court of Appeal, 22 September 2025, case No 1626/19.4T8PVZ.P1), and issues of court jurisdiction;
• transit contracts, including the status of the freight forwarder as carrier (Porto Court of Appeal, 10 November 2025, case No 8293/23.9T8PRT.P1), groups integrating a freight forwarder and a customs broker and the duty to render accounts to the client (Porto Court of Appeal, 12 December 2025, case No 693/24.3T8MTS.P1), breach of ancillary duties concerning the delivery of an extra-EU export certificate (Porto Court of Appeal, 22 June 2025, case No 1916/20.3T8MAI.P1), and the short limitation period for claims against the freight forwarder and the possibility of its interruption (Porto Court of Appeal, 23 January 2025, case No 4421/22.0T8PRT.P1);
• marine cargo insurance, in particular subrogation claims by freight forwarders against cargo insurers (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 26 June 2025, case No 80/22.8TNLSB.L1-7);
• shipbuilding, notably the competent national court in light of a jurisdiction clause (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 10 July 2025, case No 9591/23.7T8LSB.L1-6);
• maritime labour, including offshore oil activities and the applicable labour law (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 30 April 2025, case No 7576/23.2T8LSB.L1-4); and
• maritime tourism activities, including passenger accidents occurring during such activities and the applicable law (Lisbon Court of Appeal, 18 November 2025, case No 21/24.8TNLSB.L1-7).

Outlook and perspectives for the maritime sector

Further and better legislative reforms are expected. The Portos 5+ programme nurtures this hope. Portugal also recorded positive economic growth in 2025, and presents itself as an economically and legally stable and secure country. From a legal standpoint, the special relationship with Portuguese-speaking countries and the similarity of legislation with these countries (identical in some respects) is also a distinctive positive factor. The maritime sector is expected to contribute more to the economy and has all the potential to do so.