Ships are treated in law as movable property whether or not they are entered in the register; the transfer of ownership, acquisitive prescription and the extinction of ownership are nonetheless subject to rules of their own. We examine the modes of acquiring ownership of a ship and how those changes are reflected in the register.
The striking together of two vessels is characterised as a collision for the purposes of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, and liability is made subject to different principles according to the position of the parties as to fault. We examine the types of collision, the preservation of evidence, the action for damages, the limitation of liability and the limitation periods.
We address the elements and the parties of the contract of affreightment, which sets out the legal framework for the carriage of goods by sea, the distinction between the voyage charter and the general cargo contract, and the stages of performance of the contract, in the light of the provisions of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102.
A ship mortgage sometimes comes to an end together with the claim it secures and sometimes independently of that claim. We examine the grounds of extinction set out in TTK Art. 1044 et seq., the cases of extinction by court order and the process of deletion from the register from a practical standpoint.
The lightness of the conditions sought for registration and the tax conveniences on offer draw vessel and yacht owners towards foreign registries. We examine the risks harboured by flag of convenience States, the third-country flags regarded as safe and the process of registration in a foreign registry.
In a time charter the commercial management of the vessel passes to the charterer while technical management remains with the shipowner. We examine, from a practical perspective, the obligations this division imposes on the parties, the charter hire, the sharing of expenses, the redelivery obligation and the limitation period.
A vessel whose owner cannot be ascertained from the registry records, or whose ownership has been duly abandoned, is treated as ownerless. We examine who may acquire ownership of such a vessel, and by what transaction, through the distinction between registered and unregistered vessels.
The flag a vessel flies determines the law to which it is subject. We examine the conditions under which the right to fly the Turkish flag arises for vessels owned by natural and legal persons, how it is exercised and when it is lost.
A contractual pledge over a ship entered in the register may be created only in the form of a ship mortgage. We examine the conditions for its creation, the claims it secures, its scope, the relationships of rank and the rights of the mortgagee before and after the claim falls due.
The ship registry does not merely show a vessel’s allegiance to a State; it plays a decisive part in the creation of rights in rem, in transactional security and in generating public reliance. We examine the National Ship Registry, the Turkish International Ship Registry and the building registry together with their registration procedures.
The Turkish Commercial Code contains no separate chapter dividing ship mortgages into types; the classification is drawn from the provisions of the Code, the literature and the case law. We examine every form, from the shipyard owner’s mortgage and the mortgage over a ship under construction to the maritime lien, the maximum-amount mortgage and the foreign currency mortgage.
