INDONESIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Stephen Igor Warokka and Mutiara Kasih Ramadhani, SSEK Law Firm
whomever is the aggrieved party may ask the courts to issue an arrest warrant to the harbour master. If bunkers are supplied to a chartered vessel, it is possible that the bunker supplier may not be able to submit a claim to arrest the vessel, as the charterer is not seen as the owner of the vessel. Although the ICC provides that the costs for the bunker should be borne by the charterer, the degree of the charterer’s responsibility and authority over the vessel arising from the contract may differ based on the specific terms outlined in the charter agreement. Nonetheless, the bunker supplier claimant may still submit a civil claim with a standard civil proceeding for unpaid bunkers. In any event, as stated above, due to the absence of implementing regulations, the bunker supplier claimant still needs to pursue a standard civil proceeding even in the case of supplying bunkers to a vessel operated by the ship-owner. 5.5 Arresting a Vessel As discussed in 5.1 Ship Arrests , under Article 222 of the Shipping Law, the arrest of vessels may be car - ried out by the harbour master at the relevant port, pursuant to a court order. As a ship arrest may be carried out based on criminal or civil maritime claims, reference must be made to the confiscation of assets within civil or criminal proceedings. As stated in Article 1 (16) of the Indonesian Crimi - nal Procedural Code ( Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Acara Pidana – KUHAP), the confiscation of assets will be carried out by an investigator, where there will be a seizure of movable or immovable and tangible or intangible assets to be used for evidence in an inves - tigation, prosecution and proceeding. Article 39 of the KUHAP states that certain assets may be seized if they are directly used to commit a crime or to prepare for the same, if they are used to prevent a criminal investigation, or if they are directly related to a crime. Nevertheless, as described above, Indonesia has not issued any regulations regarding the formalities or procedures for the arrest of a vessel. The law is also silent on the need for security deposits in the context of ship arrests. Furthermore, neither the Indonesian Civil Procedural Law nor Supreme Court decisions
have provided any guidelines or requirements for ship arrests. As a result, the authority of the harbour master or the courts remains unclear. On the matter of powers of attorney or notarisations, in general, to act on behalf of foreign parties who are located outside Indonesia, the claim petitioner will be required to obtain a power of attorney, and to be notarised and consularised at a local Indonesian embassy. 5.6 Arresting Bunkers and Freight Indonesian law does not provide any explicit regula - tion on the arrest of bunkers or freight. Nevertheless, under Article 223 of the Shipping Law, costs related to bunkers may be seen as a maritime claim and there - fore arrest of a vessel due to its bunkers or freight should be executed through a court order. 5.7 Sister-Ship Arrest The Shipping Law does not contain any provisions concerning the arrest of sister-ships or associated ships. 5.8 Other Ways of Obtaining Attachment Orders Parties can obtain attachment orders by filing a civil claim with the district court. During the civil proceed - ing, the plaintiff may file an attachment order petition with the chair of the court for seizing the defendant’s assets to obtain security. By applying for this con - fiscation, it is possible for the plaintiff to request the seizure of all the ships possessed by a ship-owner As discussed in 5.5 Arresting a Vessel , Indonesia does not have any implementing regulations that gov - ern the procedures for vessel arrests. As a result, the release of arrested vessels is akin to the confiscation of assets, conservatory attachment or detainment. As noted, vessels are arrested based on a court order, so the release will only be carried out based on a court decision. acting as the defendant in the civil claim. 5.9 Releasing an Arrested Vessel Indonesia does not recognise the concept of using securities or guarantees in exchange for the arrest or seizure of assets. The release of arrested vessels will
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