MECK PETROLEUM DMCC v Owner and/or Demise Charterer of the vessel VICTOR 1 (IMO No. 9283722)

Case Significance

The "VICTOR 1" [2024] SGHC 165 was decided in the General Division of the High Court by S Mohan J on 28 June 2024, in Admiralty in Rem No 26 of 2023 (Registrar's Appeals Nos 1 and 2 of 2024), following hearings on 31 January and 11 March 2024. The claimant was Meck Petroleum DMCC, and the defendants were the Owner and/or Demise Charterer and the Owner of the vessel "VICTOR 1" (IMO No 9283722). The primary questions were whether a demise charter, and any corresponding admiralty in rem claims against a demise charterer, could survive a judicial sale of the chartered vessel, so as to allow a claimant to institute and maintain an action in rem against the sale proceeds where the liability in personam lies against the demise charterer, and to entitle the demise charterer to appear in the in rem action as the in personam defendant.

The judgment recorded that the Liberian-registered vessel "VICTOR 1" was arrested and judicially sold in one action in rem. Before that, the vessel had for some time been demise chartered by the second defendant and registered shipowner, Savory Shipping Inc, to the first defendant, Ceto Shipping Corporation. The catchwords address statutory liens, ownership of vessels, the characteristics of bareboat charterparties, and the effect of a judicial sale on a bareboat charterparty. The matter referenced the South African Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act. Counsel included Haridass Ho & Partners for the claimant and Gurbani & Co LLC and Stoa Law Corporation for the defendants.