Practical Issues arising from the Arrest of Ships

• Author: Rainer Christian Gilich
• Position: Deputy District Registrar (Admiralty and Maritime) Delivered to Admiralty Seminar on 22 May 2009
• Pages: 63-66

PRACTICAL ISSUES ARISING FROM THE ARREST OF SHIPS

Rainer Gilich∗

Costs and expenses arising from the arrest of ships

It is apparent that when ships are arrested the Marshal will incur costs. These costs are re-couped by the

Marshal from the arresting party and/or their solicitors. Therefore, in addition to the filing fee that is

payable in relation to a Writ in Rem (i.e. A$1881.00 in case of a company and A$785.00 in all other

cases)1 an arresting party is generally required to pay an initial upfront deposit of A$5000.00 in lieu of

the Marshal’s costs and expenses associated with an arrest. Pursuant to Rule 78 of the Admiralty Rules

1988 (Cth) the Marshal may make additional demands from time to time during an arrest for additional

funds to be provided by the solicitors for the arresting party. The Marshal’s entitlement to re-coup these

costs is based on the arresting party or its solicitors providing an undertaking to the Court to pay these

costs and expenses. The costs associated with an arrest may vary depending on factors like where the

arrest is to be effected; whether the ship in question is at anchor or at berth; and the length of the arrest.

Some of the typical expenses that an arresting party may expect to incur are as follows:

a) Insurance: Ships arrested by a Marshal are insured by the Court while under arrest.

The insurance policy covers, amongst other things, loss or damage to the vessel and

personal injury. Arresting parties are required to pay the applicable premium which

varies depending on the value of the ship and length of time of the arrest. By way of

example, a ship with an estimated valued of A$35 million dollars and which is under

arrest for 2 days will cost A$3206.50. Should the same ship remain under arrest for

10 days then the cost will be A$6649.72;

b) Marshal’s expenses reasonably incurred in the service or the execution of an arrest

warrant as well as a charge calculated at the hourly rate of salary payable to the

officer for the time involved in the service or execution (see Item 17 – Schedule 1 of

the Federal Court of Australia Regulations 2004). These charges are generally less

than a A$1000.00;

c) Helicopter hire (should arrest occur at anchor): This varies depending on the size

of helicopter; flight time to ship; and region where arrest is to be effected. As a rough

guide it costs approximately A$3000.00 to A$5000 to hire a helicopter for one return

trip flight. Alternatively, pilot vessel hire costs approximately A$2000.00 for one

return trip;

d) Flight, accommodation and vehicle hire costs incurred by the Marshal in the event

that the arrest is effected at a regional port and no local police officer or federal agent

has/can be appointed. These costs are approximately A$1200.00 to A$2000.00 and

will vary depending on length of time that the Marshal stays at the regional port;

e) Ship movement costs: The rates for hiring tugs vary from port to port and on the

number of tugs required to move a ship. For example: one movement of a Bulk

carrier within the Port of Fremantle with a net tonnage of 55 000 tonnes will cost

approximately A$4500.00. Should the arrest occur in the Port of Albany the rate for

one movement will be approximately A$6800.00). Also note that a bulk carrier of

that size would probably need two tugs when it is moved; and

∗ Deputy District Registrar (Admiralty and Maritime) Delivered to Admiralty Seminar on 22 May 2009.

1 The filing fees are current as at the time of writing this paper. Please note that Court filing fees are subject to change from time

to time and may no longer be current at the time of reading.

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