Constante Trading Ltd (the plaintiff) alleged that the owner of the MV Kapitan Labunets, Antartica (the defendant) was indebted to it in respect of the bunkering of certain ships. The plaintiff did not allege that any money was owing to it in respect of the MV Kapitan Labunets, which was one of the ships owned by the defendant, or that any goods were supplied or services rendered to the vessel by or on behalf of the plaintiff. On 4 March 1994, while the MV Kapitan Labunets was in the port of Castletown Berehaven, an ex parte application was made to the Court for a warrant directing the arrest of the ship on the ground that the Convention Relating to the Arrest of Seagoing Ships 1952 (Arrest Convention 1952), which was incorporated into Irish law by the Jurisdiction of Courts (Maritime Convention) Act 1989 (the Act), permitting the arrest of a sister ship for the debts of any other ship in the same ownership. A warrant for the arrest of the ship was issued and the MV Kapitan Labunets was detained.

It was decided in the case Intergraan BV v The Owners and All Persons Claiming an Interest in the MT Marshal Gelovani 1994 No 3241p that a sister ship flying the flag of a non-contracting State was not liable to arrest under the Arrest Convention 1952 or otherwise in Irish law. Accordingly, the defendant applied to the Court by way of interlocutory motion for the following relief: first, an order directing the release of the MV Kapitan Labunets; second, an order setting aside the warrant of arrest issued on 4 March 1994; third, if necessary or appropriate, an order directing an inquiry as to damages suffered by the defendant by reason of the wrongful arrest of the vessel at the suit of the plaintiff.

Held: Motion granted.

There is no reason to reverse the Court's earlier decision in The MT Marshal Gelovani.

There are three crucial points on which this case turns. First, the Act merely incorporates the Arrest Convention 1952 into Irish law and does not otherwise extend the domestic law of ship arrest. Second, the concept of sister ship arrest did not exist in Irish law prior to the adoption of the Arrest Convention 1952 and now exists only insofar as it is specifically authorised by that Convention. The Arrest Convention 1952 does not purport to authorise sister ship arrest where the flag is that of a non-contracting State. Third, an international Convention or treaty cannot lawfully bind to its detriment a State which is not a party to it save only by the inclusion of terms therein comprising a restatement of universally accepted provisions of customary international law. The concept of sister ship arrest does not come within that exception. Prior to the Arrest Convention 1952, it was not a generally accepted procedure sanctioned by law in all maritime States.

Accordingly, for the reasons which have been stated in The MT Marshal Gelovani, there is no justification in law under the Arrest Convention 1952 or otherwise at Irish law for the arrest of the MV Kapitan Labunets. The vessel should be released.