The Norwegian Coastal Administration (Kystverket) took arrest of the Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCCL) cruise vessel Independence of the Seas whilst in Aalesund harbor on Thursday. The reason for this was outstanding safety and pilotage fees related to several port calls and sailings in the coastal fairways during 2013, amounting to approximately NOK 600,000 (USD 101,000), said Arve Dimmen, Director Maritime Safety.
“In total, the Norwegian Coastal Administration is missing between NOK 6 to 7 million in fee payments from cruise ships (from various companies) for 2013, and we can not rule out that further arrests may be made in the weeks to come,” Dimmen said in a response emailed to questions by Cruise Business.
“After several payment reminders the Norwegian Coastal Administration saw no other option than taking the claim to the district court to get a court order in line with the The law of maritime liens. This enables them to act in the matter, and a representative of the local police then entered the ship to place it under arrest.”
“The Captain of the Independence of the Seas contacted Royal Caribbean Cruises immediately, and an hour later the debt was paid and the ship was then released. The Independence of the Seas left Aalesund as planned.”
“The law of maritime liens is a privileged claim on maritime-connected property, such as a ship, for services rendered to, or the injuries caused by that property. It is historically rare that the Norwegian Coastal Administration takes such actions to solve issues of outstanding payments. However, the Norwegian pilotage service is 100 % user-financed and therefore depends on the fees being paid at the right time.”
.
