The Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), has advised the Federal Government to enact a law that would make it mandatory for owners of arrested ships to secure their release within a time-frame.

The Executive Secretary of NCS, Capt. Adamu Biu, gave the advice at the 12th Maritime Seminar for Judges on Thursday in Abuja.

He said that such a law was necessary to enable a court of competent jurisdiction to order the sale of a ship if the owner failed to protect or secure its release.

Biu said that such law would reduce the cost incurred by a cargo-interest claimant in terms of the expenses incurred during the period of keeping a ship.

He said that from the cargo interest perspective, judicial arrest and detention could have very serious consequences on the economy.

Biu said that although arrest of a ship could be a very useful tool to a cargo-interest claimant for securing his claim, the same can also bring untold hardship to an innocent cargo-interest claimant.

“Additionally, cargo-interest claimants may incur costs in damages and expenses in case of wrongful arrest. As such, the authorities should use the weapon of ship arrest wisely.

“They (authorities) should consider the cases carefully before venturing into arresting the ship to avoid liability for what is termed needless arrest”.

Justice Mohammed Liman of the Federal High Court said that the practice and procedure relating to ship arrest was a complex and compounding one.

Liman said that the practice and procedure could give rise to conflict of laws.

He said that for a long time, the nation might continue to rely on the English law and several other jurisdictions for guidance, except the trend was checked.

Liman said that he was happy that there was already an evolving body of admiralty law that was distinctly domestic.

The jurist suggested that lawyers should develop a more robust, analytical approach to admiralty law and practice so that within a short time those grey areas of the law would be better explored.