El Canal Marítimo y Logístico Highlights the Trajectory of AIYON Abogados since its Foundation

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The journal El Canal Marítimo y Logístico analyses and highlights the trajectory of our firm since its foundation in 2015 and catalogues it as a model of success that continues to develop and grow.

The article confirms that, since the firm was founded more than six years ago, AIYON Abogados has formed a multidisciplinary, solid, and participative team of professionals, with marked quality standards in its services, and always respecting its concept of “boutique law firm” firmly connected with its clients and the sector.

From its basic nature with regard to maritime law, our firm aims to further reinforce the relationship with our international clients (maritime insurers, shipping companies and freight forwarders) on the basis of specialised training. This is one of the areas in which    we are involved as part of our activity, collaborating as regular lecturers in the Master of the Spanish Maritime Institute (Madrid), giving training talks at the University of Cadiz, maintaining collaborations with the universities of Deusto and La Laguna, as well as acting as members of the Court of Arbitration of the Madrid Bar Association. This is a commitment to the new generations, but also to clients, who expect andobtain personalised professional advice.

Likewise, the publication makes special mention of the website on the lifting of the ship arrest that the firm launched in 2021, which can be consulted at: shiparrestrelease.com.

On the other hand, the AIYON team informs that we continue to be clearly committed to handling matters related to land transport, especially in the area of national and international road transport, and the world of insurance and trade, where we have great professionals advising our clients on a daily basis and accompanying them on theirprofessional journey.

Finally, our firm’s clear vocation to deepen its knowledge of Air Law – air chartering, incidents, claims or purchase and sale of aircraft, among others – and Space Law is reflected in the “Postgraduate Specialist Course in Aeronautical and Space Law”, taught by the Faculty of Law (ICADE) in collaboration with the Spanish Association of Aeronauticaland Space Law (AEDAE).

You can read the article at the following link: https://www.diarioelcanal.com/aiyon-abogados-socio-fiable-prioriza-relacion-estrecha-cliente/

Broad representation of AIYON Abogados at the National Congress of the Spanish Association of Maritime Law (AEDM)

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Verónica Meana, Zuberoa Elorriaga and José Antonio Dominguez, partners of the offices in Madrid, Bilbao and Algeciras, respectively, took part in the National Congress of the Spanish Association of Maritime Law (AEDM) on November 18thand 19th which was held in Madrid under the title “The Maritime Law of the Recovery. Challenges and Reforms”.

The congress, which provided information of great interest to the participants, began with an In Memoriam tribute to Javier Galiano, Ramón Fernández Guerra and Fernando Meana Green. In memory of the great personal and professional legacy of the latter, Verónica, his daughter and our colleague, made a brief speech.

The congress program was structured into six modules that were addressed with rigour and depth. The latest experiences on the implementation of the Paris Memorandum, with the presentation of the point of view of various sectors (insurance, shipowners, and Directorate-General for Merchant Shipping); the “Next Generation” Funds in the maritime sector, with the analysis of the requirements for their application; liability and insurance in accidents in ports; technological challenges in technical investigation of maritime accidents; and the ongoing reforms of the Law on State Ports and Merchant Marine and the Maritime Navigation Act were discussed.

Relevant and updated information from “TP&I News” on anti-pandemic measures imposed in different ports

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The TÜRK PANDI publishes its November “TP&I News”: “Seafarers – The key workers for the global maritime industry, Risk of Detention for Anchoring in Indonesian Waters, Attention: Is your vessel arriving at a Spanish port?, Crew changes in Argentinian ports”, with the collaboration of AIYON Abogados.

Through this publication, the P&I updates the latest news from the maritime sector geared towards shipowners, charterers, as well as any other maritime agent or operator interested or affected by the measures that have been imposed in different ports due to the pandemic.

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Ship arrest

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By Irantzu Sedano and Zuberoa Elorriaga

The usual short stay of ships in the ports where they load and unload goods, as well as the international nature of the maritime sector, means that, on many occasions, it is very difficult to recover a debt from shipowners and charterers. It is in this context that the concept of ship arrest emerges.

Ship arrest is a legal tool that enables the creditor of a claim, which must be defined as a “maritime claim” to secure the detention of the ship concerned in order to guarantee its payment. This precautionary, preventive, and urgent legal action can also be regarded as a burdensome measure due to the economic damage it can cause to the operator of the vessel, as it can lead to delays in the vessel’s navigation plans, unforeseen costs due to its stay at berth in port, etc. It can also be a costly measure for the person requesting the arrest if it is wrongly or improperly proposed.

Reasons for the arrest
The arrest of ships pursues different objectives, which vary depending on the asserted maritime claim. That is to say, when the maritime claim consists of a monetary claim, the arrest will operate so that the shipowner/charterer (debtor) provides sufficient security to lift the ship arrest, with the attaching creditor obtaining security. When the maritime claim consists of a claim to the ownership of the vessel, the arrest will ensure the application of an eventual sentence to hand over the vessel.

The detention of the vessel may be replaced by the provision of a guarantee or substitute security by the shipowner/charterer before the court applying the measure, since the ultimate objective of the arrest is to guarantee the effectiveness of a later judgement on the merits of the claim / “maritime claim”, ensuring thus the possibility of its enforcement for the creditor/attaching creditor’s.

In the event that the arrest is requested unjustifiably or improperly, the shipowner/charterer of the vessel is entitled to claim for any damages resulting from the arrest.

Requirements for the ship arrest
The international legal regime in force in Spain is the International Convention on Arrest of Ships (Geneva 1999), which entered into force on 14 September 2011. At the national level, we must resort to the Maritime Navigation Act 14/2014, of 24 July.

The requirements are as follows:

  • The allegation of a “maritime claim”: ships may only be arrested on the basis of maritime claims and not on the basis of any other claim. The list of so-called “maritime claims” is numerus clausus and is set out in Article 1(1) of the 1999 Geneva Convention. The creditor of the precautionary measure, requesting the arrest, shall be exonerated from proving his claim, being sufficient for him to allege its existence and the cause for it.
  • The arrest of the “offending ship”: arrest of the vessel causing the claim is permitted provided that the person who was the owner/bareboat lessor of the ship at the time the claim arose is still the owner/bareboat lessor at the time the arrest is requested. Under certain conditions it also provides for the possibility of arresting other vessels owned by the person liable for payment of the claim (“sister ships”).
  • The existence of periculum in mora: this refers to the risk that the ship, in principle the only property of the debtor known to the creditor, may at any time leave the port leaving the creditor without guarantees.
  • The obligation to deposit a guaranteed by the attaching creditor: its purpose is to ensure that, in the event that the arrest is requested improperly and without complying with the legal requirement, the damages generated to the shipowner/charterer as a result of the incorrect arrest can be economically alleviated.
  • The pendency of the proceedings: the arrest may be requested before, during or after the commencement of the legal proceedings on the merits. The lawsuit will be brought before the court that is to hear the merits of the dispute.

Release of the arrest and the protective measure
In order to confirm ship’s release from the arrest, the arrested party (shipowner) must lodge a replacement security or guarantee before the court covering the amount claimed by its creditor (arresting party), provided that such amount does not exceed the value of the arrested vessel. If it does, the vessel will continue its voyage, leaving deposited this amount as a security for the alleged maritime claim.

Since, as a general rule, the request for arrest is placed as a precautionary measure prior to the filing of the lawsuit, it will remain without effect if the creditor/attaching creditor does not initiate the proceedings on the merits of the dispute before the competent court and within the time limit established by the court executing the precautionary measure. In such a situation, the arresting party shall be ordered to pay damages that will be considered by the court, and the security deposited by the arresting party before the court shall be forfeited.

In summary, Article 1 of the International Convention on the Arrest of Ships lists what are considered “maritime claims” that can justify the arrest of a ship, so there are many agents in the sector that may be protected by this tool to guarantee their claims (seafarers, ship suppliers, shipyards, administration, etc.).

AIYON Abogados handles arrests of ships requested by any kind of creditors, as well as lifting of the arrests of shipowners/charterers affected by this measure; moreover, for all those who want to find out more in detail about this concept we have the following platform: www.shiparrestrelease.com

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Verónica Meana and Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa participate once again in the Master’s Degree in Business and Maritime Law of the Spanish Maritime Institute

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Verónica Meana and Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa, partners of the AIYON Abogados’ offices in Madrid and Bilbao respectively, are once again members of the team of lectures  teaching at the Master’s Degree in Business and Maritime Law of the Spanish Maritime Institute.

Aimed particularly at graduates in Law, Economics and Business Administration, Seamanship and Naval Engineers who want to develop their work activity in the maritime sphere, this master’s degree is also intended for the professionals of the sector who want to acquire practical and updated expertise.

The master’s degree, which this year celebrates its 38th edition, collaborates with the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Pontifica Comillas and brings here together prestigious maritime lawyers. It comprises of 500 class hours, will start in October and will run until June 2022.

Verónica Meana joins the Arbitration Team of the Madrid Bar Association

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Verónica Meana Larrucea, partner in charge of the AIYON Abogados’ office in Madrid, has recently joined the Arbitration Court of the Madrid Bar Association.

The arbitrators are appointed by the Arbitration Court at the proposal of an Evaluation Committee designated by the governing body of the Bar Association after considering their curriculum and eligibility.

Since her nomination for the area of Maritime and Transport Law was accepted, Verónica will participate together with the other fifteen members in the resolution of the conflicts that may arise within this sphere.

Impact of COVID-19 in the operation of vessels arriving at Spanish ports: obligation to isolate or confine “Close contacts” in case of infection of a crew member and the “Free Practique”

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Air and Sea Workers, and the Reduction Coefficients

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Workers in the transport sector generally endure difficult working conditions due to the long periods of work they must perform away from their homes, the distance from their families, the arduous schedules and, on occasions, the dangerous and unhealthy nature of their work; in short, the working conditions of all these workers could be defined as, at least, complicated.

In view of this reality, different Social Security systems in various countries have provided early retirement procedures for those workers who, foreseeably, suffer a deterioration in their health and put their physical or psychological integrity at risk in the performance of their professional duties. Good examples of this are workers of maritime and air transport sector, who we will focus on in this article.

In accordance with the above, different international regulations establish regimes for taking early retirement, i.e., they apply what in Spain are called “reduction coefficients” (COE).

These “reduction coefficients” of retirement pensions are coefficients that are applied to determine the amount of the pension when there has been an early retirement allowed by the Special Regime for Sea Workers (RD 1311/2007 of October 5) for example, or the Special Regime for Flight Personnel or Aerial Work (RD 1559/1986, of June 18). But when and how should these reduction coefficients be applied?

They will be applied exclusively when the worker has considered it necessary to lower his retirement age. The period of time during which the worker’s retirement age is lowered will be counted as having contributed for the sole purpose of determining the percentage applicable to calculate the amount of the retirement pension. In other words, the objective of the COE is none other than to compensate for the effects that retirement at an earlier age has on the amount of the retirement pension.

That is to say, if the worker has not considered it necessary to lower the retirement age, it will not be possible to apply the reduction coefficients to increase the amount of the pension to be received by the worker.

This explanation is supported by Supreme Court Ruling 807/2021, of July 20, 2021, which concludes that the reduction coefficients cannot be computed when the worker is 65 years old, since, in that case, he would be receiving a higher pension than the one he would have obtained if he had retired at 65 years of age. Since he/she is not entitled to the application of the reduction coefficient for being over 65 years of age, the reduction coefficient will not be recognized for the calculation of the pro-rata contribution percentage.

For this reason, we recommend that all workers who may be affected by the early retirement age and, therefore, by the application of the reduction coefficients be appropriately informed and advised by professionals on the optimum age at which to retire and the resulting contribution percentage at the time of retirement.

Informative Talk on Maritime Law for Ship Repair Companies of Tenerife

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Last May, in cooperation with our law firm, the Provincial Association of Auxiliary Companies of Ship Repair and Shipbuilding, (ATIREN-CONNAVALTE), member of FEMETE (Provincial Federation of Metal Companies and New Technologies of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Training within Metal Sector of Tenerife), offered to its members the first formative seminar on Maritime Law, expecting it to be the first one from many others that will follow it.

During the presentation, the speakers addressed the concept of ship repair contract, its diverse models and overall requirements. They also discussed arrest of ships and the right of retention as a legal guarantee for recovery of maritime liens, that companies devoted to works or supply of parts /raw material on different vessels which they work for might have.

Our partners of AIYON Abogados located in the offices of Bilbao and Algeciras, Zuberoa Elorriaga, José Antonio Domínguez and Mikel Garteiz-goxeaskoa, actively participated in this informative talk, remaining at the disposal of the companies of the association, or third entities, for resolving any question or inquiry.

From AIYON Abogados we would like to thank to ATIREN-CONNAVALTE for the opportunity we were given, hoping that this cooperation will continue in the future.

 

New website of AIYON Abogados on Ship Arrest

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AIYON Abogados has launched a new website devoted to the management of the ship arrest, both to request its lifting as well as to proceed with its execution. Thus, those interested in learning about and, when needed, in using this efficient legal tool that guarantees the recovery of a debt (International Convention on Arrest of Ships, 1999) may obtain all relevant information on www.shiparrestrelease.com

The concept of arrest of ships entails the detention of any kind of vessel by judicial authorities in cooperation with maritime authorities of the place where the vessel is located. Given the usual brevity of the vessel’s port call and the internationality of the maritime sector as well as of its operators, the possibility to take an anticipatory and urgent legal action, such as arrest of ships, allows for an easy recovery of a debt from shipowners and shippers. The same urgency involves the reverse procedure when the action is taken from the position of shipowners and shippers. 

Our multidisciplinary team of lawyers, comprising of professionals of renowned prestige and with a large trajectory as experts in Maritime Law is here at your entire disposal to assist any query or initiate any action related to ship arrest or to arrange the lifting of the measure on a vessel.