A 60,000-tonne ship that evaded arrest by sailing away unhindered may cast doubt on the country’s ability to enforce a court order, according to maritime experts.
The incident happened last week when a court issued a warrant of seizure against MT Atlantik, an oil tanker, over a commercial dispute.
The Prime Minister ordered an inquiry into the case after The Sunday Times of Malta exposed the incident.
Without entering into the merits of the case, Simon Galea Testaferrata, a maritime lawyer, said such incidents were not good “at all” for the country’s reputation.
“If the ship was effectively arrested, it shows that the country has no serious means of enforcing a court order,” he said.
The Atlantik was bunkering in zone one, off St Paul’s Bay, when it was ordered to drop anchor by Transport Malta. However, the captain allegedly ignored the order, switched off all radio communication equipment and sailed out of territorial waters. No army patrol boats were dispatched to execute the arrest.
It is unclear if the incident was caused by miscommunication between Transport Malta and the army, which already had its assets deployed in the Grand Harbour to provide security for the fireworks festival commemorating the 10th anniversary of EU accession.
Maritime lawyer Carmel Chircop said the incident was not an isolated case.
“In exceptional cases it does happen that the ship’s captain and crew decide to give the slip, especially when the dispute does not involve them directly,” he said.
Such incidents are not good ‘at all’ for the country’s reputation
Between 30 and 40 ships were arrested in Maltese waters every year, he explained, and in the vast majority of cases, arrest orders were executed as expected.
“Obviously, it is the ship that gets away that makes the headlines and such incidents may cause creditors to think twice before using the Maltese jurisdiction to arrest a ship,” Dr Chircop said.
But there were also practical considerations to be made since it was not possible to have a patrol boat assigned to every arrested ship, he added.
Dr Chircop said such incidents also happened in other countries. “I once handled the case of a ship that escaped a foreign jurisdiction and was then arrested in Malta.”
According to an overview of maritime legislation that deals with ship arrests compiled by law firm Dingli & Dingli for shiparrested.com, an international network of maritime law firms, ships can be seized in Malta only after the courts issue a warrant of arrest.
The arrest can also be a precautionary measure until a decision on outstanding claims is made.
The ship has to be physically in Maltese territorial waters for the arrest to be effective.
Warrants of seizure can be issued irrespective of the flag the ship flies as long as its length exceeds 10 metres and the claim for which the ship is arrested is worth a minimum of €7,000.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com