6 Security Interests in Ships »
James Leslie Bain Allsop
From: The IMLI Manual on International Maritime Law: Volume II: Shipping Law
Edited By: David Joseph Attard, Malgosia Fitzmaurice, Ignacio Arroyo, Norman Martinez, Elda Belja
This chapter discusses security interests in shipping and how they are regulated under maritime law. A ship’s security interests consist of mortgages, maritime liens, special legislative rights and charges, possessory liens, enforcement of maritime claims, and the creation of security interests. All these are part of a general body of maritime law concerned with the enforcement of maritime claims which can be divided into proprietary and non-proprietary or general claims. Proprietary claims can be claims as to ownership or as to security. Such security may arise as a consequence of a consensual arrangement, such as a mortgage, or it may arise by operation of law as an incident of a maritime transaction or the consequence of a maritime wrong, such as the possessory lien or the maritime lien. Non-proprietary or general claims may obtain some degree of priority or a secured characteristic by the method of enforcement in maritime courts.
