Maritime piracy

Maritime Piracy

Acts of maritime piracy threaten maritime security by endangering, in particular, the welfare of seafarers and the security of navigation and commerce.

These criminal acts may result in the loss of life, physical harm or hostage-taking of seafarers, significant disruptions to commerce and navigation, financial losses to shipowners, increased insurance premiums and security costs, increased costs to consumers and producers, and damage to the marine environment. Pirate attacks can have widespread ramifications, including preventing humanitarian assistance and increasing the costs of future shipments to the affected areas.

The ongoing threat maritime of piracy and hijackings continue to generate much concern in the marine industry. We can help you with all aspects of maritime piracy incidents – the legal and practical aspects of responding to a hijacking, release of vessels, insurance and minimising the risk of such incidents reoccurring. We give advice to all interests – ship owners, insurers, charterers, cargo owners and crew.

As a ship owner or charterer, you will need to consider a number of commercial and practical issues when ordering the vessel to transit risky areas, as well as how to respond if your ship falls prey to pirates. The priority will be to have the vessel and crew released and if a payment is involved how to recover the cost.

In maritime piracy, the key considerations include:

  • Charter party – related issues on BIMCO piracy clause or CONWARTIME.
  • What are the insurance implications for ships transiting these waters?
  • What are the legal constraints of using armed guards?
  • Is payment of a ransom legal?
  • Payment and delivery of ransom
  • Are ransom payments and costs recoverable from insurers?
  • Is a hijacked ship off-hire?
  • Issues arising out of duty of care to crew

Maritime security is to be a key focus of our practice. Whether you are a provider or user of maritime security services, we understand your needs and are well positioned to serve you in this area.

As leading Tunisian shipping law firm, we operate on all the Tunisian commercial ports. So, if you are looking for leading Tunisian shipping solicitors in ports of Tunisia for a ship arrest, bunker claim, general average, demurrage claim, cargo claim, do not hesitate to contact us.

We can help you in all the Tunisian commercial ports:

  • Port of Bizerte Menzel Bourguiba
  • Port of La Goulette
  • Port of Sousse
  • Port of Sfax
  • Port of Gabes
  • Port of Zarzis