Drama in Table Bay as ship evades arrest

Aug 14, 2005
Author: SHG

Members of the maritime unit of law firm Sonnenberg Hoffmann Galombik (SHG) in Cape Town were involved in a dramatic attempt to arrest bunkers on board the general cargo vessel Meta late last Wednesday evening (10 August 2005). Janine Lee, joint head of the maritime unit obtained an urgent order for the arrest in the late afternoon, after the demise charterers, African Maritime Carriers of the British Virgin Isles, failed to pay hire due on another vessel.

“We managed to get the deputy sheriff on board the vessel, by way of the pilot boat, as she was leaving the port” says Lee, “but unfortunately things turned nasty after that.”

The deputy sheriff, Mark Withers, carried out the arrest as the vessel continued to steam away from port. The arrest papers were served on the port authorities simultaneously and port control radioed to the vessel, ordering her to turn and drop anchor at the anchorage. The response of the Chinese Master was that he refused to do so, and that he would continue with the intended voyage to Argentina, with the deputy sheriff still on board.

After his life was threatened by the Chinese officers and crew, the deputy sheriff called for assistance, and the launch which had been hired by SHG from Offshore Maritime Services, entered the chase of the Meta. Harriet Beamish, a candidate attorney from SHG, was on board the launch relaying the unfolding drama to those on dry land.

After some tense telephone calls between the vessel’s agents, Godfrey Needham of Offshore Maritime Services, the National Ports Authority, the P&I Club and the Master of the Meta, he was eventually persuaded to slow the vessel sufficiently for the deputy to descend the pilot’s ladder and come on board the launch alongside.

The arresting party, their Club and the maritime unit of SHG are now working on formulating criminal charges against the Master and demise charterers of the vessel, as well as civil claims relating to the recovery of the costs incurred as a result of the flagrantly unlawful actions of the Master.

The deputy sheriff will, no doubt, appreciate a dull day at the office, whilst Harriet Beamish of SHG will be reflecting on her baptism of fire into the world of maritime law.

“We like to think that we always pull out all the stops in achieving a result for our clients, but it is not often that lives are endangered in the process” says Janine Lee.