Maritime legislation is fascinating, but additionally exceedingly advanced.
The current collision of a Singaporean-flagged ship with a bridge in Baltimore demonstrates simply a few of its complexities, and the case appears prone to be one that may take years to resolve.
First, to the background of the incident.
Whereas it’s nonetheless early, and an investigation is ongoing, it seems that the cargo ship named Dali misplaced energy and was unable to keep away from crashing into a pillar of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, catching hearth because it did so. The collision, which came about within the early hours of the morning on March 26, is assumed to have killed at the least seven folks engaged on the bridge, and collapsed nearly all of the construction.
Within the wake of the devastation, a lot has been manufactured from the truth that Dali flew a Singaporean flag – the implication being that the collision has precipitated a world incident between the U.S. and Singapore.
However what does a ship’s flag truly imply?
Put merely, flagging a ship is a procedural act as, by legislation, all merchant ships must be registered to a state, and should additionally fly its flag to determine the ship’s registry.
This additionally signifies that the ship should adhere to the maritime legal guidelines of that state whereas at sea and, in open seas, a ship’s flag can be utilized to ascertain authorized jurisdiction if one thing goes fallacious.
Within the case of the Dali nevertheless, it was not crusing the excessive seas when the crash occurred, however was in U.S. waters and due to this fact beneath the jurisdiction of the American authorities.
Along with pointing in direction of authorized jurisdiction in a maritime case, flagging a ship additionally signifies that it has entry to tax breaks, certification, and safety measures from the state through which it’s registered. This follow has its personal time period, “flag of convenience,” or selecting a flag (state) that enables a simple registration course of and different enticing advantages moderately than registering the ship within the nation of its proprietor.
To that finish, most service provider ships are registered in solely a handful of nations, with the top eight flag states for 2023 listed as Panama, Liberia, the Marshall Islands, Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Malta, and the Bahamas, though there may be some debate about whether or not Singapore is taken into account a flag of comfort because of the nation’s excessive security requirements.
No matter its flag, of extra significance within the Dali case is who truly owned the ship, as a result of it’s the ship’s homeowners who shall be answerable for damages.
A ship’s proprietor doesn’t need to be of the identical nationality and even in the identical nation because the ship’s registry, and even using the time period “homeowners” of a ship could be sophisticated. Whereas usually the “authorized proprietor” of a vessel is taken into account its registered proprietor, this isn’t the identical as its “beneficial owner,” who in the end owns the authorized entity that owns the ship.
Within the case of the Dali, whereas it’s registered to an organization named Grace Ocean Personal based mostly in Singapore, that firm is in flip owned by a Hong Kong-based group.
That’s nonetheless not the top of the story.
Ships have legal responsibility insurance coverage and, within the Dali case, that insurance comes from Britannia Protection and Indemnity Club, based mostly in London.
None of that is uncommon.
One retired maritime lawyer I spoke to when penning this column recalled an identical incident in Indonesia within the Nineteen Seventies. That case concerned a tanker collision within the Palembang channel in West Sumatra, which prompted some environmental air pollution of the port attributable to oil spillage.
The respective ships concerned within the collision had Liberian and Panamanian flags (see above for the commonest flag states) and Greek helpful homeowners. As with the Dali, the ship’s insurance coverage was based mostly in the UK, and English jurisdiction had been agreed upon for ship harm claims.
In the long run, Liberia, Panama, and Greece weren’t concerned within the case, and the legal responsibility insurers paid Indonesia for air pollution of the port and cargo loss.
Undoubtedly, within the case of the Dali, there shall be an enormous insurance coverage declare, encompassing bridge wreckage elimination and rebuild, the lack of life within the U.S. (which is pricey), and the fee to transport unable to go away Baltimore.
All of this can doubtless take years to resolve, however the crux of the case is prone to be extra concerning the insurers, the helpful homeowners of Dali, and the U.S. authorities, and fewer concerning the crimson and white Singaporean flag beneath which the stricken ship sailed.
