SINGAPORE Law and Practice Contributed by: Mathiew Christophe Rajoo, Probin Dass and Tan Hui Tsing, DennisMathiew
only proceed if the person who would be liable in an action in personam was, when the cause of action arose, the owner or demise charterer of that ship. Alternatively, the action in rem may proceed against any ship owned by the char - terer. 4.5 Arresting a Vessel Substantively, in order to arrest a vessel, Sec - tions 3 and 4 of the High Court (Admiralty Juris - diction) Act must be satisfied. Essentially, the arresting party’s claim must come under a cat - egory of claim relating to the ship as set out in Section 3 of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdic - tion) Act. The arresting party must also identify the rel - evant person who would be liable in personam and show that this relevant person was, when the cause of action arose, the owner or char - terer of, or in possession or in control of, the ship (Section 4(4)(b) of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act). The arresting party must also show that the relevant person is, at the time the writ is issued, the beneficial owner of the ship in respect of all the shares in it or the demise charterer of the ship (Section 4(4)(c) of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act). If the writ is issued against another ship, at the time when the writ is issued, the relevant person must be the beneficial owner of this other ship (Section 4(4) (d) of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act). Procedurally, an affidavit in support of the appli - cation for the warrant of arrest must be filed and served, and a full disclosure of all relevant facts is required in this supporting affidavit because the application is ex parte. In general, the Singapore court does not require original, notarised or legalised documents. On 18 January 2021, Singapore acceded to, and
became a contracting party to, the Hague Con - vention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisa - tion for Foreign Public Documents. The Apostille Act 2020 therefore came into operation on 16 September 2021 and, as a result, Singapore and other contracting parties have waived the requirement for legalisation of public documents by replacing legalisation with the use of apos - tilles. As such, copies will suffice for an applica - tion to arrest a vessel and the authenticity of the document can be dealt with/objected to later. The Sheriff may request that the arresting party place a deposit to cover the Sheriff’s anticipated expenses in maintaining the vessel while under arrest because the arresting party is obliged to maintain the vessel during the period of arrest. 4.6 Arresting Bunkers and Freight See 4.4 Unpaid Bunkers . It is possible to arrest a vessel for a claim for unpaid freight as it relates to carriage of goods in a ship and is likely to fall under Section 3(1)(h) of the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act. See the case of The Ocean Jade [1991] 2 MLJ 385, where this issue was left open. 4.7 Sister-Ship Arrest Vessels under the same registered ownership as the offending vessel may be arrested. However, vessels within the same group or belonging to an affiliate – but not under the same registered ownership as the offending vessel – cannot be arrested. 4.8 Other Ways of Obtaining Attachment Orders A plaintiff may apply for, and obtain, a Mareva injunction or freezing order in respect of the defendant’s assets. A worldwide Mareva injunc - tion or freezing order can also be obtained.
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