Interlegal succeeded in defense of P&I club’s interests under the case of ship arrest in Turkey
15 January, 2026
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A maritime incident in the Dardanelles Strait, which at first glance might have seemed like a typical emergency, in practice developed into a complex dispute with essential legal and financial risks. As a result of vessel collision with a support of a municipally owned road bridge, the Turkish authorities initiated ship arrest as precautionary measure for declared claim on loss recovery.
Interlegal’s client was a P&I club engaged in insurance coverage for the shipowner’s liability to third parties, in particular, in cases of damage to port and coastal infrastructure. The initially declared claim amount exceeded USD 2.3 million and was based on groundless preliminary technical calculations of losses, which created the risk of an unreasonable financial burden on both the shipowner and the insurer.
Interlegal law team joined the case at an early stage and provided comprehensive legal support, which included:
- analysis of the grounds for the shipowner’s liability, with regards to international maritime law provisions and applicable Turkish legislation;
- assessment of lawfulness and proportionality of ship arrest as a claim security measure;
- organization and coordination of independent technical expertise of the damaged bridge support.
Expertise made it possible to fix actual extent of the damage, causal relationship between the incident and the claimed losses, as well as to refute a significant part of initial calculations. It served as key argument in subsequent negotiations with the infrastructure facility owner’s representatives and state authorities.
Longstanding and complex negotiations resulted in reducing the claim amount by over threefold and a half, while the parties reached a compromise and signed amicable agreement.
This case clearly shows the value of involving experienced shipping lawyers at an early stage of the incident, as well as effectiveness of combining legal analysis, technical expertise and strategic negotiations under disputes related to maritime accidents and damage to coastal infrastructure.
Interlegal managing associate Taras Dragan and lawyer Dmytro Karetnikov, managed by partner Karyna Gorova, led the case.
