As the industry gears up to the uncertainty of a highly volatile market, effective debt collection is critical to the success of any business. As a result of a demand from existing clients, we have developed a marine debt recovery service which is specifically focused on the marine industry.
What sets apart our marine debt recovery service from that of other law firms and debt recovery agencies is that our service is tailor made for recovering marine debts. Our marine debt recovery service is based on a transparent costs structure with a heavy emphasis on recovery of costs from the debtor.
Marine sector clients require a specialist service that is geared to dealing with the international nature of shipping and can handle claims that need to be pursued both within the UK and overseas. You need a service that can act promptly to deal with assets within the jurisdiction (including ship arrest, caveats, restraining injunctions, use of liens etc). You need a service that has access to specialist legal support throughout the world.
We have substantial experience of dealing with shipping contracts and recognise the issues arising from many of these contracts, especially some of the provisions that may give additional recovery opportunities such as:
- identification of the range of parties who might be liable for the debt (including agents responsible party clauses etc)
- exercise of lien clauses
- arrest of ships, bunkers etc
- injunctions
- Rule B applications in New York (i.e. seizure of US$ going through the banking system in New York which is currently seen as the major weapon for overseas debt recovery
Should overseas recovery be required, we have close relationships with marine law firms throughout the world. In many cases we are able to secure enhanced service and cost transparency as a result of existing working relationships. Through our considerable experience of handling marine cases throughout the world, we have built up knowledge of the special characteristics of different jurisdictions. This can be important when deciding what is the best jurisdiction to arrest a vessel. For example:
- There are some jurisdictions better than others for lifting the veil of incorporation.
- Some jurisdictions allow arrest of bunkers.
- Some jurisdictions have a quick and cheap arrest process whereas others are expensive and time consuming.
- Meet the teamClick above
