Legal proceedings for obtaining a final enforceable court decision usually take a considerable time, and it is not unusual that at the end of lengthy proceedings the defendant is found without any assets upon which the claimant may enforce the final title which he has obtained after such long efforts. This is particularly frequent in the field of shipping law, where the practice of single-vessel companies is widespread, and by the end of the proceedings the vessel, which is usually the only asset of the shipowning company, may have been sold, have sunk or may in one way or another be difficult to locate. A remedy to this problem is for the claimant to ask for security at the outset or at any time he feels that the future enforcement of his claim is endangered. This is achieved in the area of shipping in particular by the arrest of ships.

The provisions of Greek law concerning the arrest of ships in Greece appear in the Code of Civil Procedure (CCP). In fact, this Code includes general provisions for all types of security,2 a separate set of more specific rules for the arrest of assets as security,3 and finally a few provisions directly concerning the arrest of ships.4 Thus, for the arrest of ships the general rules apply, plus the specific ones.

On the other hand, Greece has ratified5 the “International Convention Relating to the Arrest of Sea-Going Ships” signed at Brussels on 10th May 1952. The provisions of this Convention apply to a case involving a ship flying the flag of a country which is a party to this Convention, while in all other cases (disputes between Greek parties, or with parties not covered by the Convention) the Code of Civil Procedure applies.

Greek courts have jurisdiction to hear petitions for the arrest of ships in the first place in accordance with the general rules for jurisdiction. Thus, they have jurisdiction in cases when the defendant (physical person or company) has his residence6 in Greece.