“It is not often that one gets the privilege of being part of an entire international convention process – from the first discussions in Athens to the toasting of it coming into force on 17 February 2026.
Much has recently be written about the Beijing Convention on the Judicial Sale of Ships – conceived by Prof Henry Li (the Chair of the first International Working Group) with the support of the Comite Maritime Internationale (CMI) and guided through some awkward times by the irrepressible Ann Fenech, currently President of the CMI and Chair of the second International Working Group, who ensured UN Commission on International Trade Law’s support. For much of this process I was privileged to be a rapporteur for the first IWG and a member and cheering supporter on the second IWG as great minds got to work not just on the text but also in the shadows of diplomacy.
For years there have been problems with having one state recognise the judicial sale of a ship – the effect of which is, after all, quite dramatic. A ship is sold to a buyer who needs to know that no further claims can be brought against it, and that it can be transferred from its old to its new ship’s registry. Having that certainty will increase the sale price of the vessel (to the benefit of any creditors and the owner) and allow the new owner to trade the vessel free of any encumbrances such as liens and mortgages.
To date there are 33 signatories to the Convention. South Africa is not one of them, despite having an impressive admiralty jurisdiction that is the envy of other states – it is a fairly simple matter to arrest and sell a ship in the event that the owner is unable to settle or secure its debts. Our ship auctions are extremely well managed and foreign buyers have considerable faith in the process. The current ranking of claims, however, is not attractive to mortgagee banks, who tend to avoid having vessels sold through the admiralty jurisdiction of South African courts. That said, the Maritime Law Association of South Africa will be encouraged to support proposals to Government to adopt the Convention – which will require some changes to current legislation. As the current Chair of the MLA’s Admiralty Committee, that is a task that I welcome.”