COMPETING CLAIMS SCUPPERED
BY KEITH INGRAM
A ship repairer's priority rights to recover money owed following the ship's arrest and sale tested in court.
Y
es it can be every ship repairer's nightmare when the vessel scarpers leaving a substantial debt behind. Granted, for many smaller ship repairers or boat yards the 'no cash no splash' policy normally gets around most problems when the owner is a bit strapped for cash. But when it come to the larger repair yards, slips
and docks involving international clients, the legal issues surrounding repair contracts and payment may not be so easy to resolve. Other ships are waiting to use the dock so not pulling the plug and leaving the ship to sit and wait pending payment or resolution is not a viable option. Given that this scenario is becoming increasingly common with many ship owners struggling to keep old ships operational, we delved deeper, and in doing so, spoke with Alan Sherlock, Partner at Hesketh Henry lawyers in Auckland to give some clarity to a recent case, Babcock Fitzroy Limited v The Ship "The M/V Southern Pasifika"
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