On 1 November 2021, the Bailiff's Court in Hjørring arrested Russian ship A. The arrest was made at the request of a Canadian company, C, which alleged that it was owed compensation by the shipowner, arising from an occasion in 2018 where C had hired the ship for a commercial cruise and it had run aground. The bailiff's decision was appealed to the Western High Court (Vestre Landsret). Before the Court, the parties presented a number of pleadings that contained further information about the ownership of the ship, and what the ship had been used for.

Held: The arrest order must be lifted.

Based on the registration of ship A in the Russian International Ship Register, together with the other information presented in the case, the Court finds that ship A belongs to the Russian State, and that the ship is used by B, which is a State Research Institute. The question of whether the ship can be arrested is therefore primarily regulated by Act No 198 of 16 May 1950 on Foreign State Ships, which gives domestic effect in Denmark to the Convention on the Immunity of State-owned Vessels 1926.

Detention of foreign ships by arrest is regulated in s 3 of the Act on Foreign State Ships. According to this provision, arrest may not be made of ships owned or operated by the foreign State and used exclusively for State purposes of a non-commercial nature.

This provision, according to its wording and the preparatory works, must be understood as meaning that it is the circumstances at the time of the arrest that are decisive as to whether it is possible to detain the ship. It is thus irrelevant in relation to the question of arrest that, at the time when C's alleged claim arose, it was not used for State purposes, but as a cruise ship. It is also irrelevant that the ship A has also been used commercially on a large number of other occasions. Instead, it must be assessed whether its current use must be considered to be exclusively for State purposes of a non-commercial nature.

The Institute has stated that ship A sailed from Kaliningrad on 30 October 2021 with a view to conducting an oceanographic scientific expedition, which was planned and carried out under the auspices of the Institute. The expedition was to research deep ocean currents and sedimentation in the Atlantic Ocean, as well as hydrophysical and hydrochemical conditions. It is further stated that there are 61 people on the ship, consisting of crew members and Russian scientists. No information has been provided to substantiate that the A was being used exclusively for the scientific expedition described in the programme of the expedition.

The Court finds that such an expedition must be regarded as being for State purposes of a non-commercial nature. Section 3 of the Act on Foreign State Ships is thus an obstacle to arresting the ship. The Court therefore revokes the Bailiff's ruling.