BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: André Kegels, Kegels Advocaten
claim” is one that relates to one or more of the following: • damage caused by any ship, in a collision or otherwise; • loss of life or personal injury caused by any ship or occurring in connection with the operation of any ship; • salvage; • an agreement relating to the use or hire of any ship, whether by charterparty or otherwise; • an agreement relating to the carriage of goods in any ship, whether by charterparty or otherwise; • loss of or damage to goods, including bag - gage carried in any ship; • general average; • bottomry; • towage; • pilotage; • goods or materials, wherever supplied to a ship for her operation or maintenance; • construction, repair or equipment of any ship or dock charges and dues; • wages of Masters, officers or crew; • Master’s disbursements, including disburse - ments made by shippers, charterers, or agents on behalf of a ship or her owner; • disputes as to the title to or ownership of any ship; • disputes between co-owners of any ship as to the ownership, possession, employment, or earnings of that ship; • the mortgage or hypothecation of any ship; • fines imposed by the Belgian authorities; and • securities due by the owner, master or man - ager involved in an incident involving threat - ening pollution or damage. Interestingly, the NBMC provides that an arrest for other claims is possible for vessels under the flag of a country that did not ratify the 1952
Arrest Convention. There does not seem to be any case law on this point yet. 4.2 Maritime Liens The flag of the vessel determines the rights in rem. In principle, Belgian jurisdiction will apply the rules of the flag in respect of liens and mortgag - es. This means that Belgian law will almost never be applicable whenever issues concerning liens and mortgages arise. Indeed, most cases that require the application of liens and mortgages relate to foreign-flagged vessels. Foreign-registered rights in rem on a vessel will be respected on the condition that the relevant ships registry, containing a minimum of informa - tion, is publicly consultable and extracts can be obtained. Belgian-flagged vessels will be subject to Bel - gian law on liens and mortgages. Belgian law provides various categories of rights in rem on a sea-going vessel. The NBMC provides for “ship security rights” and has created a new type of right in rem: “ship’s priority rights”, which have priority over “privileged claims”. These two types of rights in rem take priority over the “ hypo- theque ” (the Belgian equivalent of a mortgage). “Ship’s priority rights” cover the various costs incurred by or for the account of the vessel from its last call into port up until its public sale, such as port fees, crew costs, and maintenance expenses. “Privileged claims” are similar but not identical to those of the 1924 convention on liens and mortgages. In 2021, the NBMC was amended to remove cargo claims from the list of “privi -
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