MOZAMBIQUE Law and Practice Contributed by: José Miguel Oliveira, Sara Alves Lourenço, Kenny Laisse and Caio de Mello Ferreira, VdA
4. Maritime Liens and Ship Arrests 4.1 Ship Arrests The International Convention Relating to the Arrest of Sea-Going Ships, 1952 (the “Brussels Convention”) is applicable to ship arrests. Out - side its scope, the claimant must make use of the provisions of Mozambique’s Civil Procedure Code and of Law 10/2022. 4.2 Maritime Liens Maritime liens are recognised in Article 578 of the 1888 Commercial Code, which specifies the following categories of claims: 1. court costs incurred in the common interest of the creditors; 2. remuneration for salvage; 3. pilotage and towage expenses; 4. tonnage, lights, anchorage, public health and other harbour dues; 5. expenses incurred in connection with a ves - sel’s maintenance and storage of her appur - tenances; 6. Master and crew wages; 7. costs incurred in connection with the repair of the vessel, her appurtenances and equip - ment; 8. reimbursement of the price of the cargo that the Master was forced to sell; 9. insurance premiums; 10. any unpaid portion of the price due in con - nection with the purchase of a vessel; 11. costs incurred in connection with the repair of the vessel, her appurtenances and equip - ment accruing during the past three years; 12. unpaid amounts arising from ship-building contracts; 13. outstanding insurance premiums over the vessel, if insurance coverage was taken in total, or over the covered part of her appur - tenances not mentioned in (11); and
14. sums due to shippers in respect of loss or damage to cargo. Liens mentioned in (1) to (9) are understood to refer to those incurred during, and as a cause of, the last voyage. Claims for indemnities for personal injury of a member of the crew or of a passenger would not be recognised as a maritime lien or a maritime claim. Liabilities resulting from contracts for chartering a vessel will not provide grounds for a maritime claim. Maritime claims are those set forth in Article 1(1) of the Brussels Convention (in respect of which, a vessel may be arrested under the terms of the Convention). 4.3 Liability in Personam for Owners or Demise Charterers It is not required for the owner to be liable in persona for arrest of a vessel to be accepted. Pursuant to Article 3(4) of the Brussels Con - vention, if the charterer (and not the registered owner) is liable in respect of a maritime claim relating to a vessel, in the context of a charter by demise, the claimant may arrest such vessel or any other in the ownership of the charterer by demise, even though no other vessel in the ownership of the registered owner shall be liable to arrest in respect of such maritime claim. The above-mentioned regime shall apply to any case in which a person other than the registered own - er is liable in respect of a maritime claim relating to that vessel. 4.4 Unpaid Bunkers A bunker supplier may arrest a vessel based on a maritime claim, as set out by Article 1(1)(k) of the
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