The Owners of Cargo Lately Laden on Board the Ship “Nazym Khikmet” and Other Ships v The Owners of the Ship “Nazym Khikmet” and Other Ships - Court of Appeal (Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Evans and Thorpe LJJ) - 23 May 1996

Admiralty jurisdiction - Whether “sister ship” validly arrested on basis that party liable in personam was beneficial owner of all the shares in the arrested vessel at the time of action brought

The plaintiff cargo owners complained of damage to a cargo of tobacco allegedly damaged in the course of carriage from India to the Ukraine on board the ship Nazym Khikmet . The defendants were sued as the parties liable on that claim. They were the Black Sea Shipping Co (“Blasco”). The plaintiffs arrested the ship Zorinsk at Newport, Gwent. She was not the ship involved in the carriage giving rise to the plaintiffs’ cargo claims, so the validity of the arrest depended on the Zorinsk having been, when proceedings were issued, in the beneficial ownership of Blasco. Both Blasco and the State of Ukraine had contended before the Admiralty Judge that the Zorinsk had not, as at the date of issue of the writ, been beneficially owned by Blasco. The Judge had accepted that contention. The plaintiffs appealed to the Court of Appeal.