By; MATTHEW UKACHUNWA, Lagos.
A quarterly Maritime Master Class Series (MMCS) has been launched in Lagos by Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) to resolve conflicts between ship owners and financial institutions.
OAL is a legal firm that specializes in maritime law and practice.
The inaugural Maritime Master Class Series was launched on Tuesday, 26th July 2016.
The objective of the institute is to provide an avenue for offering knowledge to financial institutions on maritime law and practice, with special focus on ship arrest procedures.
“It is recognized that financial institutions provide finance to ship owners for various maritime business activities most especially in the area of ship building, ship mortgage and ship purchase. It is understood that conflicts could arise between both parties in respect of loans provided.
“In such respect the financial institution concerned would definitely be interested in how it could recover its loan facility from any defaulting ship owner,” Dr Oluwole Akinyeye, Head, Maritime unit of OAL said.
According to him, a crucial tool available to such financial institution is the possible arrest of the ship in respect of which a loan has been provided.
Maritime Master Class Series, he expatiated, provides an opportunity for sensitizing the legal department of various financial institutions about the dynamics and intricacies of the ship arrest procedure.
Akinyeye pointed out that in setting up MMCS, “consideration was also given to the due diligence measures that ought to be taken in future by financial institutions in the granting of loans facilities to ship owners in order to ensure that such loans could be reopened with appreciable returns.”
