Legal support by Interlegal: sale of the vessel under Panamanian flag at €1 million
19 August, 2025
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A shipowner, who was planning to sell its cargo vessel registered under Panamanian flag at the cost exceeding €1,000,000, recently applied to Interlegal. At the time of drafting the deal, the Seller had a series of financial obligations, namely:
- debts to contractors and bunkering company;
- overdue crew wage payments.
Due to a violation of the MLC Convention, flag administration initiated the detention of the vessel, while the bunkering company arrested the vessel.
Our task was to provide legal support of the sale & purchase deal, having mitigated all risks for the Client (by releasing the vessel from arrest and detention), and to secure the Seller’s interests in respect of receiving funds for the vessel.
Our legal support included the following key stages:
- drafting and approval of the Memorandum of Agreement (the “MoA”);
- integration of an escrow mechanism in order to guarantee payment and ensure controlled debt recovery;
- including in the MoA of all the Seller’s confirmed obligations, fixing priority of their repayment;
- drafting documents for closing the deal and coordinating all the parties involved.
At the final stage, we worked out in detail procedure for completing the deal, taking into account that key debts had been repaid and the vessel had been released from arrest and detention by the flag administration.
Due to clear strategy and experience of the Interlegalin maritime law, the Client was able to sell the vessel even under encumbrances – and to receive funds without legal risks.
Interlegal senior associate Valeriia Fetysenko and junior lawyer Anastasiia Kovalska led the project.
