Olisa Agbakoba legal launches Maritime Master Class

Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL), a leading law firm in Lagos and highly steeped in the field of maritime law and practice, held its inaugural quarterly Maritime Master Class Series (MMCS) recently.
A release by Oluwole Adeyeye, head, Maritime Unit OAL, said the event was attended by participants from financial institutions that were the intended target audience.
According to Adeyeye, the objective of the MMCS was to provide an avenue for offering knowledge to financial institutions in respect of the area of maritime law and practice, with particular focus on the ‘ship arrest procedure’.
“It is recognised that financial institutions provide finance to ship-owners for various maritime business activities, most especially in the area of ship building, ship mortgage and ship purchase. It is also understood that conflicts could arise between both parties in respect of the loans provided. In such respect, the financial institution concerned would definitely be interested in how it could recover its loan facility from any defaulting ship owner. A crucial tool available to such financial institution is the possible arrest of the ship in respect of which a loan has been provided,” he said.
He explained that the MMCS provided an opportunity for sensitising the legal departments of various financial institutions about the dynamics and intricacies of the ship arrest procedure.
“The MMCS provided detailed knowledge of the options open to the financial institution/creditor, taking into cognisance that there could be other competing creditors. Further insight was provided into where a financial institution/creditor stood within the scheme of such competing creditors. Consideration was also given to the due diligence measures that ought to be taken in future by financial institutions in the granting of loan facilities to ship owners, in order to ensure that such loans could be recouped, with appreciable returns,” he further said.
Adeyeye announced that OAL would be holding subsequent Maritime Master Class Series on a quarterly basis which, according to him would address various topical issues in maritime law and practice.