COLOMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Javier Franco, Franco & Abogados Asociados
3.5 Time Bar for Filing Claims for Damaged or Lost Cargo
cept by making reference to certain “maritime privileges” that will follow the vessel, even if there is a change of ownership or flag, except in cases of forced execution of the ship (Article 22). Claims to be found among those “maritime privileges” include: • those pertaining to crew wages, including repatriation costs, death or personal injury compensation claims emerging directly from the exploitation of the ship; • those arising out of salvage rewards; and • those arising out of port and navigation chan - nel rights. 4.3 Liability in Personam for Owners or Demise Charterers As per Article 37 of Decision 487, the logic of the instrument is to allow the “arrest” of a ves - sel whenever there is a maritime credit of the kinds described in Article 1. Moreover, Article 41 of Decision 487 essentially mirrors what is contemplated in Article 3.1 of the International Convention on Arrest of Ships, 1999, regarding requirements for the arrest to be permissible. 4.4 Unpaid Bunkers As per Article 1 of Decision 487 of 2000, a “mari - time credit” (ie, a claim that could be used to “arrest” a vessel) would be a credit/claim that would have as its cause (No 12) bunkers sup - plied to the ship for the exploitation, manage - ment, conservation or maintenance of the ves - sel. Thus, it seems at least theoretically possible to arrest a vessel in Colombia as a consequence of such an event. However, the provision does not clarify who is to be the owner of the bun - kers and/or the party that provided/ordered that service.
There is no specific provision dealing with the time bar in the regulation of the contract for the maritime carriage of goods. Thus, Article 993 of the Colombian Commercial Code – namely, a provision of the general set of rules for the car - riage contract – would be applicable. As per this provision, the time bar for filing a claim against the carrier would be two years, to be counted from the moment the goods have been delivered or should have been delivered to the consignee. 4. Maritime Liens and Ship Arrests 4.1 Ship Arrests Colombia has not ratified any of the existing conventions on the arrest of vessels. However, Decision 487 of 2000 (namely, a regional instru - ment applicable in the Andean countries, includ - ing Colombia) deals specifically with “vessels’ preventative embargo” ( embargo preventivo de buque ) – ie, the “arrest” of vessels, as it is known, particularly in Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions. 4.2 Maritime Liens Decision 487 of the Andean Community also deals with maritime claims (or “credits”, as the instrument calls them) and maritime liens. Mari - time claims/credits are defined in Article 1 of Decision 487, following the logic of Article 1 of the International Convention on Arrest of Ships, 1999. Thus, damages and/or losses caused by the exploitation of the ship (No 1), and death or personal injury in direct relation to the exploi - tation of the ship (No 2), among others, would allow the “arrest” of the ship in Colombia. However, even though the concept of a maritime lien itself belongs to Anglo-Saxon jurisdictions, Decision 487 also deals obliquely with the con -
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