ST Shipping and Transport Inc v The owners of the vessel “Skaw Prince” - High Court of Singapore (Amarjeet JC) - 30 July 1994

Admiralty action in rem - Whether court should lift corporate veil in order to determine beneficial ownership of vessels

The vessel Skaw Princess was time-chartered to the plaintiffs. The registered owners of the vessel named in the charterparty were Corsair Holdings Inc (“Corsair”), a Liberian Corporation. The plaintiffs subsequently claimed that about US$ 240,000 was due to them under the charterparty. They brought two sets of proceedings. In the first proceedings the plaintiffs arrested the Skaw Princess . In their Petition filed in support of the arrest, the plaintiffs cited Corsair as “the owner of the ship Skaw Princess ”. However, the plaintiffs recovered nothing in those proceedings because a claim by a mortgagee took priority.