ABSTRACT
Usual features of second ship sales include negotiation through sale and purchase brokers on behalf of their principals, the formal recording of the terms of sale in a memorandum of agreement, and crucially the transfer of title and risk in the vessel from seller to buyer by delivery of the bill of sale. The Court also commented on how “one of the most fast-developing areas of the law of negligence at present concerns the scope and extent of this and other exceptions to the general rule that there is no liability in tort for harm caused by intervention of third parties”. As part of wider industry initiatives on sales of vessels for demolition and to help sellers minimise their exposure to the risk of unsavoury practices within the shipbreaking industry, sellers are being encouraged to use a form of contract that provides that the ship be recycled in safe and environmentally sound manner which accords with the Hong Kong Convention.
