NEWSFRONT – Legal Opinion – Bareboar Charterparty

Where a vessel is chartered by demise, the owner exercises no right on her apart from bare ownership. Owner’s only link with the vessel becomes the right to receive the agreed hire.

The Charterer is the one who assumes full control of the vessel and is regarded as (deponent) owner of her. Under such charterer’s capacity, possible claims against the charterer can be enforced against the vessel.

For that to happen, certain conditions should be met: One is that the claim is vested with a statutory or maritime lien. Another is that the liable party is the bareboat charterer, not a charterer under other types of charterparty. Last, the charterparty by demise whereunder the Charterer acts as a dispoment owner should still be in force.

Supreme Court Judgment no 1529/2017, Presiding: D. Papantonopoulou, Rapporteur Judge: G. Apostolakis, Attorneys at law: G. Orfanidis, A. Koutsofios, Gr. Timagenis, Maritime Law Review vol. 45, p.321.

NOTE: Such action against the vessel is an action in rem aiming to preserve the vessel as security for the claim. In case of substitution of the arrest by a security bond, the court that assumed initially the case is still competent.