Sudostroitelnoye predpriyatiye Yantar (the claimant) applied for the arrest of the Lundenes to secure a claim for USD 102,372.10 in payment under ship repair contracts with International Docking Services AS (the defendant). The Court of first instance arrested the ship.

Skipsaksjeselskapet Polaris (the appellant) appealed the ruling of the Court of first instance. The Court returned the application because it was submitted by a company that was not a party to the proceedings. The appellant failed to meet the time limits for the second (cassation) appeal. The Court of Cassation rejected the application to extend the deadline for a cassation appeal.

The Chairman of the Supreme Commercial Court of Russia protested against the Court of Appeal's decision.

Held: The Court of Appeal's ruling is reversed. The application to arrest the ship is rejected.

Under art 3.1 of the Arrest Convention 1952, a claimant may arrest either the particular ship in respect of which the maritime claim arose, or any other ship which is owned by the person who was, at the time when the maritime claim arose, the owner of the particular ship. According to art 3.2 of the Arrest Convention 1952, ships shall be deemed to be in the same ownership when all the shares therein are owned by the same person or persons. Under art 3.4 of the Arrest Convention 1952, when in the case of a charter by demise of a ship, the charterer alone is liable in respect of a maritime claim relating to that ship, the claimant may arrest such ship or any other ship in the ownership of the charterer by demise, subject to the provisions of the Convention, but no other ship in the ownership of the registered owner shall be liable to arrest in respect of such maritime claim.

The claim related to the repairs of the Henriette. The owner of this ship was P/R Odd Wagle ANS. The Court detained the Lundenes, mistakenly believing that the owner of the ship was International Docking Service AS. This incorrect conclusion was drawn solely on the basis of the claimant's testimony and the repair contracts.

The owner of the Lundenes, registered in the ship registry of Gibraltar, was Skipsaksjeselskap Polaris. A copy of the Certificate of the British register was provided as evidence. The claimant failed to provide proof that the defendant was the owner or charterer of the Lundenes. In these circumstances, the ship was arrested in breach of art 3 of the Arrest Convention 1952. The ship was released.