Harbours Act, 1996

• Permanent Page URL

Detention and sale of ship or goods for unpaid harbour charges.

14.—(1) Where default is made in the payment of harbour charges imposed by a company under section 13 (1) the company may, subject to the provisions of this section, detain, pending payment of such charges—

(a) if the charges were imposed under paragraph (a), (b) or (c) of section 13 (1), the ship or goods concerned or, if the goods concerned have been removed outside the harbour, any other goods within the harbour belonging to the person in default, or

(b) if the charges were imposed under paragraph (d) of section 13 (1), any ship or goods in relation to which the service or facility concerned was performed or provided or the equipment concerned was hired or, if such goods have been removed outside the harbour, any other goods within the harbour belonging to the person in default,

and if the charges are not paid within 56 days of the date when the detention commences, sell the ship or goods in order to satisfy the charges.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), if the goods detained by a company under that subsection are of a perishable nature the company may, subject to the provisions of this section, sell the goods at any time before the expiration of the period referred to in that subsection (without prejudice to its right to sell them after such expiration) in order to satisfy the harbour charges concerned.

(3) No goods forfeitable under the Customs Acts shall be detained under subsection (1).

(4) A company shall not detain, or continue to detain, a ship or goods under subsection (1) if—

(a) the owner or master of the ship, the owner of the goods or any other person referred to in paragraph (b) or (d) of section 13 (1), as may be appropriate, or

(b) any person claiming an interest in the ship or goods,

alleges that the harbour charges concerned, or any of them, are not due and gives to the company, pending the determination of the question as to whether the charges are due, sufficient security for the payment of the charges which the company alleges to be due.

(5) For the purpose of effecting the detention of a ship or goods under subsection (1), the harbour master of the harbour concerned may enter the ship or any place (including any ship or vehicle) within the harbour where the goods are and do all things in relation to the ship or goods necessary for or incidental to the said purpose and without prejudice to the foregoing may remove the goods from the said place and store them elsewhere.

(6) If a company proposes to sell a ship that it has detained under subsection (1) or goods that it has so detained and which it estimates to be of more than £5,000 in value, it shall apply to whichever of the following courts is appropriate for leave to sell the ship or goods, namely—

(a) if the company estimates the value of the ship or goods to be not more than £30,000, the Circuit Court, or

(b) if the company estimates the value of the ship or goods to be more than £30,000, the High Court,

and the Circuit Court or the High Court, as the case may be, shall not give such leave unless it is established that—

(i) a sum is due to the company for harbour charges,

(ii) default has been made in the payment thereof, and

(iii) if the harbour charges concerned were imposed under paragraph (d) of section 13 (1), the ship or goods was or were the ship or goods in relation to which the service or facility was performed or provided by the company or the equipment was hired by the company or, as the case may be, the goods were otherwise goods which the company was entitled to detain under paragraph (b) of subsection (1).

(7) (a) If a company proposes to apply for leave to sell a ship or goods under subsection (6), it shall take such steps as may be practicable for—

(i) bringing the proposed application to the notice of persons whose interests may be affected by the determination of the court thereon, and

(ii) affording to any such person an opportunity of becoming a party to the proceedings on the application.

(b) Failure by a company to comply with a requirement of this subsection in respect of any sale shall not, after the sale has taken place, be a ground for impugning the validity of such sale but this paragraph shall not prejudice any action for damages against a company by a person suffering loss in consequence of a failure aforesaid.

(8) (a) The following provisions shall have effect in respect of an order of a court granting leave under subsection (6) for the sale of a ship (in this subsection referred to as “the order”) and the sale of the ship on foot of such order—

(i) the order shall contain a declaration vesting in the company concerned by virtue of the order the right to transfer the ship, and the company shall by virtue of such declaration be entitled to transfer the ship in the same manner and to the same extent as if it were the registered owner thereof,

(ii) the sale shall operate to vest the ship in the purchaser freed of all mortgages, liens, charges or other interests therein whatsoever, and the purchaser shall not require any other evidence of the title to the ship than a copy, certified by the company concerned, of the order,

(iii) a registrar of shipping shall, on production of the order or a copy thereof certified by the company concerned, register the bill of sale effecting the transfer in the same manner as if the company were the registered owner.

(b) If a company sells a ship or goods under this section it shall secure that the ship or goods is or are sold for the best price that can reasonably be obtained.

(9) The proceeds of any sale under this section shall be applied as follows, and in the following order, that is to say—

(a) in payment of any duty (whether of customs or excise) or value-added tax chargeable on the ship or the goods, as the case may be,

(b) in payment of the expenses incurred by the company concerned in detaining, keeping and selling the ship or the goods, as the case may be (including the expenses in connection with any application to a court under subsection (6)),

(c) in payment of the harbour charges that the company concerned alleges to be due or, if an application has been made to a court under subsection (6), that the court on such application has found to be due,

and the surplus, if any, of such proceeds shall be paid to, or among, the person or persons whose interest or interests in the ship or the goods have been divested by reason of the sale.

(10) Nothing in this section shall operate to authorise the sale of any goods the importation or sale of which is for the time being prohibited by or under any enactment or to relieve from any restriction or compliance with any condition to which the importation or sale of goods is for the time being subject by or under any enactment.

(11) The power of detention and sale conferred by this section in respect of a ship shall extend to the equipment of the ship and any stores for use in connection with the operation of the ship (being equipment and stores carried in the ship) whether or not such equipment or stores is or are the property of the person who is the owner or master of the ship and, accordingly—

(a) references in subsection (1), subsections (4) to (9) and subsection (12) to a ship shall be construed (save where the context does not admit such a construction) as including references to such equipment and stores,

(b) subsection (10) shall have effect in relation to such equipment and stores as it has effect in relation to goods.

(12) (a) An application under subsection (6) to the Circuit Court shall be made to the judge of the Circuit Court for the circuit in which the ship or goods concerned was or were detained.

(b) If, in relation to an application under subsection (6) to the Circuit Court, that court becomes of opinion during the hearing of the application that the value of the ship or goods the subject of the application, is, contrary to the estimate of the company making the application, more than £30,000, it may, if it so thinks fit, transfer the application to the High Court.