It is not news that Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL), is highly steeped in the field of maritime law and practice. Capitalizing on this position, an inaugural quarterly Maritime Master Class Series (MMCS) was held on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. The target audience for the inaugural session was participants from financial institutions, who attended the event.
The objective of this particular MMCS was to provide an avenue for offering knowledge to relevant representatives of financial institutions in respect of maritime law and practice, with particular focus on ‘ship arrest procedure’.
The rational for the specific target audience was hinged on the fact that financial institutions provide finance to ship owners for various maritime business activities, especially in the areas of ship building, ship mortgage and ship purchase. Typically, conflicts tend to arise between the contracting parties in respect of the loans provided, and generally, the financial institution’s concern is how to recover the 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 to sensitize relevant officers from the various financial institutions about the dynamics and intricacies of the ship arrest procedure. It also gave detailed knowledge of the options open to the financial institution/Creditor, taking into cognizance the possibility of other competing creditors, and their hierarchical position when faced with competing creditors. Not left out, was the issue of due diligence measures which ought to be undertaken before granting loan facilities to ship owners, in order to guarantee that such loans can be recouped, with appreciable returns.
In all, the MMCS was a success, with the participants leaving more enriched and better informed to tackle issues in this area.
For pictures from the event click here.
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