In April 2023, Bur-Mar Shipping and Trade Co Ltd (“the shipowner”) time-chartered the vessel Burhan Dizman (“the vessel”) to Arcoship Denizcilik Nakliyat Ve Ticaret (“the first charterer”). On 31 July 2023, the vessel was redelivered to the shipowner, after which the shipowner chartered it to AMS Amaropa Marketing and Sales AG (“the second charterer”). On 29 August 2023, Monjasa, a Danish company (“the arresting party”) obtained authorisation to arrest the vessel. The arrest was authorised on the basis of the Brussels Convention of 10 May 1952 (“the Arrest Convention 1952”). The arrest was to secure a claim for bunkers that had remained unpaid by the first charterer.

On 4 September 2023, the shipowner made an application against the arresting party for release of the vessel.

By decision of 10 October 2023, the Court of Appeal of Pau2 rejected the shipowner’s application for release. The court held that, under the Arrest Convention 1952, Art.3.1, a claimant may arrest either the vessel to which the claim relates or any other vessel belonging to the person who was the owner when the maritime claim arose. Since the arresting party’s claim constituted a maritime claim within the meaning of Art.1 of the Convention, the arrest was valid. The court considered there was no justification for adding a further condition requiring the maritime claim to be privileged.

Decision: The Supreme Court quashed and annulled the Court of Appeal’s decision.

Held: Since a reversal of the Supreme Court’s case law in 2005,3 by application of the Arrest Convention 1952, Arts 3 and 9, the arrest of a vessel that no longer belongs to the debtor at the time of arrest may be authorised only if the claimant can rely on a privileged claim under the law of the forum. This interpretation leads to the same outcome also in the situation where the application for arrest of the vessel is based on an alleged claim against the charterer (and the charterer alone) of the vessel to which the claim relates, but where the charter agreement has ended and the vessel has been redelivered to its owner prior to the application for arrest.