An owner who has purchased a ship through commercial channels at arm’s length does not typically face challenges to its title when calling at different ports. However, the same cannot be said about a purchaser who obtains clean title to a ship through a judicial sale process. Much will depend on where the ship was judicially sold, and which jurisdictions are called upon to recognise the sale.
In this Update, we take a look at the issues that arise from the failure to recognise clean titles conferred by foreign judicial sales and their effect on purchasers and the maritime industry as a whole. We also examine the United Nations Convention on the International Effects of Judicial Sales of Ships, which Singapore signed in September 2023, and how far it may go in addressing these issues.
For more information, click here to read the full Legal Update.
