Olisa
Agbakoba Legal (OAL), a leading law firm in Lagos held its inaugural quarterly Maritime Master Class Series (MMCS) recently.
The event was attended by participants from various financial institutions that were the intended target audience.
OAL noted that the objective of the MMCS was to provide an avenue to educate financial institutions in the area of maritime law and practice, with particular focus on the ‘ship arrest procedure’.
The need to enlighten these institutions became necessary since financial institutions provide funding to ship-owners for various maritime business activities, especially in the area of ship building, ship mortgage and ship purchase.
“It is also understood that conflicts could arise between both parties in respect of the loans provided. In such respect, the financial institution concerned would definitely be interested in how it could recover its loan facility from any defaulting ship-owner.
“A crucial tool available to such financial institution is the possible arrest of the ship in respect of which a loan has been provided. The MMCS therefore provided an opportunity for sensitizing the legal departments of various financial institutions about the dynamics and intricacies of the ship arrest procedure” a report from OAL said.
The MMCS provided detailed knowledge of the options open to the financial institution/Creditor, taking into cognizance that there could be other competing creditors.
Further insight was provided into where a financial institution/Creditor stood within the scheme of such competing creditors. Consideration was also given to the due diligence measures that ought to be taken in future by financial institutions in the granting of loan facilities to ship-owners, in order to ensure that such loans could be recouped, with appreciable returns.
OAL will be holding subsequent Maritime Masterclass Series on a quarterly basis which will address various topical issues in maritime law and practice.
