- Flynote
- CL|Maritime Lien|Arrest of Vessel|Piracy|Action In Rem
- Case summary
-
This case dealt with a claim for wages of a ship’s crew members for having been kept hostage by Somali pirates. This case illustrated the similarities between Indian and South African maritime law.
The crisp issue before this court was whether at the time of the second appellant’s arrest at the respondent’s instance, there existed a maritime lien for crew’s wages entitling the respondent to arrest the second appellant by way of an in rem arrest in terms of s 3(4)(a) of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act. The court held that a maritime lien is a maritime claim that constitutes one of the bases upon which a claimant may found an action in rem. It also confers a certain preference in ranking of claims.
The court considered the two-pronged enquiry into the existence of a maritime lien, Firstly, on a prima facie basis, whether the respondent had established the existence and nature of the claims sought to be enforced in rem against the second appellant. Secondly, the court had to determine whether the respondent prima facie established claims which, by reason of their nature and character, were protected by maritime lien in South African law.
The court was satisfied that there was no obligation on the second appellant to pay crew’s wages as these payments. The court reasoned that there had been a supervening event that caused the fulfillment of the crew’s employment contracts impossible. Therefore, there was no claim for unpaid wages giving rise to a maritime lien enforceable by an action in rem. Accordingly, the court upheld the appeal and ordered that the deemed arrest be set aside.
This document is 223.6 KB. Do you want to load it?
Cited documents 3
Judgment 3
- Imperial Marine Company v Motor Vessel Pasquale della Gatta and Another; Imperial Marine Company v Motor Vessel Filippo Lembo and Another (638/2010) [2011] ZASCA 131 (15 September 2011)
- Phillips v South African Reserve Bank and Others (221/2011) [2012] ZASCA 38 (29 March 2012)
- Van der Merwe v Road Accident Fund and Another [2006] ZACC 4 (30 March 2006)
Documents citing this one 3
Judgment 3
- DHL Project & Chartering Ltd v MV 'Shandong Hai Chang' (A 10/2020) [2022] ZAKZDHC 21 (30 May 2022)
- Galsworthy Limited v Pretty Scene Shipping SA and Another; Pretty Scene Shipping SA and Another v Galsworthy Limited (A 23/2015; A 65/2016; AR 157/2018; AR 469/2017) [2019] ZAKZPHC 10 (4 March 2019)
- MT Pretty Scene: Galsworthy Ltd v Pretty Scene Shipping SA and Another (684/2019) [2021] ZASCA 38 (12 April 2021)