Bhagwan Marine Pty Ltd v The Ship “Teras Bandicoot”

The case of Bhagwan Marine Pty Ltd v The Ship “Teras Bandicoot” involved the plaintiff, Bhagwan Marine, seeking an alternative method of service for an arrest warrant and writ, as the vessel in question, the Teras Bandicoot, was not crewed and had been in a dead-ship status since February 2018. The defendant, Teras Maritime Proprietary Limited, was the owner of the ship, which was valued between $800,000 and $900,000. Bhagwan Marine was pursuing a claim for unpaid mooring fees, and the vessel had been placed on a cyclone mooring at Hudson Creek in Darwin, Northern Territory. The primary legal issue before the court was whether the discretion under Rule 6A of the Admiralty Rules 1988 (Cth) should be exercised to allow for alternative service of the writ and arrest warrant by electronic means, and if so, whether the provisions of the Practice Guideline Special Measures in Response to COVID-19 Admiralty and Maritime (SMIN-2) should extend to other circumstances beyond the pandemic. The court found that it was appropriate to exercise the discretion under Rule 6A in this instance, as serving the writ and executing the arrest warrant on-board the ship would not bring the arrest to the attention of any party, given the vessel was not crewed and there were no personnel present in Australia responsible for the ship.

The court considered that the principles underlying Rule 6A and the Practice Guideline SMIN-2 extend to other circumstances where it may be appropriate to waive compliance with the Rules in order to address their objects and the safety of persons concerned. The court also noted that there was no evidence of any matters that could affect the safety of the Admiralty Marshal, master, crew or any other person, or that relate to the risk of pollution, or damage, or damage to a person, property or the marine environment. In light of these considerations, the court made orders allowing for the service of the writ and execution of the arrest warrant by email, with service and execution deemed to have been effected one hour after the email was transmitted, subject to the Admiralty Marshal not receiving an undeliverable notification within that time. The costs of this application were ordered to be costs in the proceeding.