UAE Law and Practice Contributed by: Abdelhak Attalah and Ghassan Hidar, Attalah Legal Consultancy
5.5 Arresting a Vessel To arrest a vessel, a written application must be sub - mitted to the competent court, accompanied by rel - evant documents that substantiate the maritime debt. An advocate licensed to practise in UAE courts must be retained to initiate the proceedings. The arrest - ing party must provide a notarised power of attorney (PoA), which must be issued by the arresting party. If the PoA is executed outside the UAE, it must be attested by the UAE embassy or consulate in the country of execution, and subsequently counter- attested by the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Ministry of Justice. As Arabic is the official language of the UAE, all court proceedings, including those related to admiralty mat - ters, are conducted in Arabic. All documents submit - ted to the court must be translated into Arabic by a translator licensed by the Ministry of Justice. While recent amendments to civil procedure laws allow cer - tain matters to be conducted in English, it is not clear whether this applies to admiralty cases, so it is advis - able to have all documents translated into Arabic. UAE courts have historically followed varying prac - tices regarding security for the arrest of vessels. Some courts required an indemnity undertaking from a local entity, while others insisted on a bank guaran - tee. However, with the introduction of Article 56 of the ML, the arresting party is now required to provide a financial guarantee to ensure the safety of the vessel and its crew. Any funds drawn from this guarantee will be considered judicial expenses and prioritised as debt in the event of the vessel’s sale. Although Article 56 does not specify the exact form of the financial guarantee, based on Article 57, it is likely that a letter of guarantee from a P&I club or a recognised financial institution will be acceptable. 5.6 Arresting Bunkers and Freight In the UAE, it is possible to arrest bunkers and freight under the Civil Procedure Code of 2022 (CPC) rather than under the ML. Article 252 (1) of the CPC allows a creditor to seek a court order from the judge for expedited matters for the confiscation of the debtor’s property, including bunkers and freight or debts owing to their debtor in the hands of third parties – even if they are deferred, subject to a condition or disputed –
demise charterer can be arrested. However, vessels owned by the owner of the chartered vessel, but not by the demise charterer, cannot be arrested for the maritime debt. Under Article 55, in the case of a time charter where the charterer has the right to manage the vessel navi - gationally, and where the charterer is solely responsi - ble for the maritime debt, the arresting party can arrest the relevant vessel or any other vessel owned by the charterer. The arresting party cannot arrest other ves - sels owned by the vessel’s owner (the “chartering owner”). 5.4 Unpaid Bunkers Bunkering claims are classified in Article 53 (2)(l) of the ML as follows: “Supplying products or supplying the ship with fuel or tools necessary for use, mainte - nance, or preservation of the ship, in whichever place the supply is made”. Thus, ship arrest in the UAE is a preservatory remedy to obtain security in favour of an unpaid bunker claim in the merits, whether com - menced or to be commenced through court litigation or arbitration. Furthermore, supplying fuel is classified in Article 29 (5) of the ML as privileged maritime debt, entitling the supplier to seek an arrest of the vessel. A bunker supplier, whether actual or contractual, has the right to arrest a vessel for unpaid bunkers sup - plied to her. The contractual supplier can arrest the vessel if they can prove the existence of a bunker supply contract with the owner, charterer, Master or agent, along with evidence of a stamped bunker delivery note. In con - trast, an actual supplier’s claim for non-payment may be challenged if the owner or charterer can demon - strate that payment was made to the contractual sup - plier. There have been cases where the actual sup - plier attempted to arrest the vessel based on a bunker delivery confirmation from the Master, but such claims were dismissed when proof of payment to the con - tractual supplier was presented by the owner. UAE courts generally upheld the bunker supplier’s right to arrest the vessel, even if the charterer, rather than the owner, entered into the bunker supply con - tract.
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