Ship Arrest Under Maritime Law: Reasons, Procedure, and Precautions

Ship halt is a civil law admiralty operation which is much entered upon an natural process or enterprise by imposing a ‘ Warrant of Arrest ’ on the transport. This article provides the lector with an insight into ship check, its reasons, uses and consequences and everything one may ever want to know about the topic concerned .
What is Ship Arrest?
Marine admiralty has this legal power to prevent a ship legally from moving or trade a long as the resolution of the concern court action is pending. In this event the ship, which has authorized by the refer commission to be arrested, is normally taken in charge in colligation with a claim rather than a justify of catch for its own sake. here the embark is detained by judicial process in order to secure a maritime claim, but the arrest guarantee does not imply the seizure of a transport in murder or gratification of a judgment .
ship arrest

Reasons for Ship Arrest
A number of events or occurrences may trigger the halt of ships. The implicated authority, by abiding by the jurisprudence of ship halt, may conduct a sanction of collar on a embark and formal or cozy probe pertaining to certain crimes, such as :

  • Loss of Life
  • Personal Injury
  • Loss of Property
  • Violation of customs, regulations, road norms, health norms or safety regulations
  • Execution of a decree

The Ship Arrest Procedure
Any domestic of extraneous transport may be arrested in the legal power of the authority of a Court or an appropriate judicial authority in regard of any nautical claim alone and basically no early claim. In its esteemed a claimant may ask for a ship halt for a finical claim. A ship within the lapp jurisdictions can not be arrested more than once by the lapp claimant .
One may apply for a embark check after ensuring that the Claim Form has been issued. The application and an affidavit that must follow should contain the followings :

  • ship arrestthe nature of the claim or counterclaim
  • that the claim has not been gratified or fulfilled
  •  the name of the ship if the claim arises of a ship concerned
  • the nature of the property to be arrested, which must include the name and port of registry and the ownership of the ship
  • the amount of security sought, that any relevant notices to the consul have been given

If the authority finds it is right to arrest, the transport becomes a security for the decide compensate costs and an aim to be sold to satisfy the claim. however this hardly takes rate as the owner manages to satisfy the prerequisite for security by offering a letter of undertaking.

Prevention of Ship Arrest
There are in fact certain measures to prevent apprehension of ships, particularly when the owner of the ship is aware of the title. This is even more authoritative when the embark is used for commercial trading and the ship check might cause it fiscal passing. Hence it is essential to foresee potential claim against the transport or the owner himself. In most cases the owner renders an recognition of service to the call and offer security standards to gratify the claim with interest and costs. however this may not prevent the ship from being arrested, but the Court could order discharge of the ship arrested .
Release of the Ship Arrested
A ship can only be released if the arresting party allows it to or the court orders for the same. If the assurance finds out a challenge over the respect of the claim, the claimant has to provide an undertaking to pay on demand all the expenses related to the check of ships. A third base party may besides claim to have a right against the ship, for which they must enter into a contractual musical arrangement to prevent any dealing with the ship or its release. however this may enact the Court to obligate the third party pay the damage costs to the owner of the embark for the check caused in its release .
Caution

implementation of ship halt can cause severe dislocation to a ship and its owners. Nevertheless the criteria for collar of ships in a certain legal power must ensured to have satisfied differently a sanction for wrongful halt unlawfully may ensue and terminate the case and price the claimant the hard expenses for the disability caused. Both the owner of the ship and the claimant for embark catch must be aware of this fact .
You may besides like to read- Who is a Maritime Lawyer ?
Image Credits:  uscgnews, dw-world

Rate this post