Abaco Ltd and Law Office Milošević Contributed to Issue 39 of The Arrest News

We are pleased to announce that Abaco Ltd and Law Office Milošević have been again recognized by Shiparrested.com for their efforts in development of maritime practice and contribution to Shiparrested.com network. The Arrest News gave some intricacies about the case whereby applicants were represented by Law Office Milošević and Abaco Ltd, both having extensive expertise in maritime law.

The published article provides insight into a Decision of Commercial Court of Montenegro (the “Court”) granting ship arrest warrant to secure the maritime claim against a personal debtor other than the registered owner of the ship.

The applicants, represented by legal team of Abaco & Law Office Milosevic, applied for the ship arrest based on Article 1021, para. 2 and 3 of the Montenegrin Maritime and Inland Navigation Act. Namely, the Application was directed against the opponent no. 1 as the bareboat charterer and against the opponent no. 2 as the ship operator/ charterer (and not the ship owner himself) who was personally liable for the maritime claim for which the arrest had been applied for.

As to fulfillment of conditions for successful ship arrest, the Court determined that the probability of a maritime claim exists on the part of the Applicants. As for the second requirement – the peril for the claim, the Court ruled that such imminent danger was assumed to exist since the claim would have to be enforced abroad. Hence, only the probability of existence of the applicants’ claim needed to be made probable.

This case is very important as it refers to legal remedies of action in rem (against the ship) which is not applicable in civil law countries, such as Montenegro, where only action in personam (against personal debtor) is allowed. The case creates a significant court practice and once again confirms coexistence of two legal systems resulted from implementation of the International Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to Arrest of Sea-going Ships (1952 Arrest Convention) and national law (Montenegrin Maritime and Inland Navigation Act).

You can read the full article and other interesting content of the 39th Issue of The Arrest News published by Shiparrested.com on the following website:

https://shiparrested.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/TheArrestNews39.pdf