Master Mariners

Jaikar Sohal

Capt. Jaikar is a qualified and experienced master mariner with more than 19 years seagoing experience onboard various types of merchant ships, largely crude oil tankers. Jaikar started his maritime career in 1996 as a Trainee Nautical Officer with the Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) where he gained experience onboard general cargo, bulk carrier, and oil tanker. Later he joined Wallem Ship Management in 2000 and moved through various ranks onboard oil tankers before getting his command in 2011. He has a command experience of around 5 years onboard crude oil tankers including Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs). He has extensive experience of ship handling (very large vessels), ship-to-ship transfer (STS) operations, SBM/SPM and other oil tanker operations, crew management, safety management, risk management, various kind of ship inspections, surveys, and audits.

In 2016, Jaikar made his career transition to shore as trainer and lecturer working for Centre of Maritime Science and Ocean Studies (CMOS), University of Trinidad till 2019 and Tobago and then with Warsash Maritime School, Solent University. He is a qualified simulation trainer and had been in-charge of various competency and professional development courses. He has overseen various simulation-based port development projects, test runs for various kind of ship, pilot training, ship prototype testing etc. As a strategic lead for research and knowledge exchange, he has been instrumental in setting up Warsash MASS research centre (WMRC) and its four research groups. As a researcher, he has contributed to draft bids for various research projects and carried out research in few autonomous ship projects like Intelligent Ship Centre (IGNITE). He holds a fellowship of Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and has published articles and book chapters in industry related publications.

Jaikar holds a LLM in International Trade and Maritime Law from Solent University and Diploma in marine surveying from Lloyds Maritime Academy. He is a qualified ISO and ISM internal auditor (ISO9001.14001, OHSAS 18001). He is an associate fellow of Nautical Institute, UK (AFNI).

Capt. Jaikar joined MFB in December 2023 as Master Mariner. He is actively involved in various aspects of wet and dry shipping matters, including investigation and handling of disputes arising out of marine causalities including grounding, collisions, and salvage cases. He has assisted the team in carrying out VDR analysis, development of VDR transcripts and witness statements, among other things. He provides his expert technical advice on various charter party matters, as and when required.

Martin Dalby 

Martin qualified as Master with Shell, following an apprenticeship and ten years’ experience on vessels carrying crude oil and refined products, and chemicals. He also worked on LNG vessels and bulk carriers (coal and ore). His later seagoing experience was on RoRo vessels and ferries.

On coming ashore he worked in operational roles in ports and terminals (mainly bulk liquids including liquified gases and food grade products) before entering P&I insurance on the claims side, and finally law in 1999. Since then he has dealt exclusively with litigation arising from the navigation and cargo handling aspects of vessel operations. He has attended well over 100 vessels worldwide to take evidence on claims large and small.

In recent years, his work has tended to focus on collisions and navigational casualties, general average, fires, equipment breakdown, and tanker cargo matters.