Basic Concepts of Maritime Law
The public and private sides of maritime law, UNCLOS zones, ship arrest and liens, salvage, general average and time bars under Turkish law.
Maritime law is really two fields sharing a name. The public side, the law of the sea, sets out what states may do at sea: territorial waters, exclusive economic zones, the continental shelf and rights of navigation. Its main text is the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The private side, often called admiralty, governs dealings between ship, cargo and people: contracts of carriage, ship arrest, salvage, collision and insurance. In Türkiye the core private text is the maritime book of Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102.[1]
| Public side | Private side | |
|---|---|---|
| Parties | States | Owners, cargo interests, charterers, insurers, seafarers |
| Main text | UNCLOS | Carriage, arrest, salvage and limitation conventions, national statutes |
| Typical subject | Maritime zones, passage rights | Cargo damage, debts, collision |
| Typical forum | International court or tribunal | National court or commercial arbitration |
UNCLOS and Maritime Zones
UNCLOS opened for signature at Montego Bay on 10 December 1982 and entered into force on 16 November 1994, the product of the Third Conference on the Law of the Sea of 1973 to 1982.[2] UN records list 172 parties, the latest being Cambodia on 6 February 2026. Neither Türkiye nor the United States is among them.[3]
| Zone | Maximum breadth | Coastal state's position |
|---|---|---|
| Territorial sea | 12 nautical miles | Sovereignty, subject to innocent passage |
| Contiguous zone | 24 nautical miles from baselines | Limited control powers |
| Exclusive economic zone (EEZ) | 200 nautical miles | Sovereign rights over living and non-living resources and energy production, with navigation preserved |
| Continental shelf | 200 nautical miles, further where conditions are met | Sovereign rights over seabed and subsoil resources |
| High seas | Beyond those zones | Belongs to no state; a ship answers to her flag |
Sources: UNCLOS; Wikipedia summary of maritime zones.[2][4]
Straits are a topic of their own. Article 38 gives a right of transit passage through straits used for international navigation, while article 35(c) leaves untouched the regime of straits governed by long-standing international conventions.[4] For the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles the governing text is the Montreux Convention of 1936.
The Convention created two main institutions, the International Seabed Authority for deep seabed mining and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg.[2] The BBNJ Agreement on high seas biodiversity reached its 60th ratification in September 2025 and entered into force on 17 January 2026.[5] Piracy is also defined in UNCLOS. Article 101 covers acts of violence or detention for private ends against a ship on the high seas or outside any state's jurisdiction.[4]
Technical Rules and Enforcing States
Most of the rules applying to the ship herself come from IMO conventions: SOLAS for safety of life, MARPOL for pollution, STCW for seafarer training, COLREG for preventing collisions. Governments enforce them through the flag state on one side and port state control on the other. Conventions enter national law in different ways, so the same incident can end differently in two ports.
The Main Private Law Topics
Much of the international unification of private maritime law started with lawyers rather than governments, through the Comité Maritime International (CMI), formed in Antwerp in 1897.[6] The result is not one system, since each country is party to its own mix of conventions.
Carriage of Goods
Four regimes are in play for bills of lading. Which applies depends on the bill itself, the ports involved and the forum, and that decides the carrier's liability and its limit.
| Regime | Year | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Hague Rules | 1924 | In force for Türkiye from 1956 |
| Hague-Visby Rules | 1968 | Türkiye is not a party; largely carried into the Commercial Code |
| Hamburg Rules | 1978 | Türkiye is not a party; partly carried into the Code |
| Rotterdam Rules | 2008 | Needs 20 ratifications, has 5 parties, not in force |
Sources: The Legal 500, Türkiye Shipping; UNCITRAL.[1][7]
The commercial side of freight is covered under freight, and coastal trade under cabotage.
Ship Arrest and Maritime Liens
A claimant can ask a court to arrest a ship as security for a claim. This is a different thing from detention, which is an administrative decision on safety grounds. Two international texts deal with it, the arrest conventions of 1952 and 1999.
Türkiye ratified the 1999 Convention on 24 March 2017. Turkish law allows arrest for the maritime claims listed in article 1352 of the Code. The application goes to the court where the ship lies and can be decided without hearing the other side. Arrest is also available in support of foreign proceedings or arbitration, in which case the main action must start within one month. Article 1363 sets a fixed counter-security of SDR 10,000, with crew wage claims exempt.[1]
A maritime lien is a charge that travels with the ship. Article 1320 grants one for crew wages, death and injury, salvage, port and pilotage dues, tort claims for physical damage and general average contribution, and a fuel supplier does not appear on that list.[1] In the United States, by contrast, someone who provides necessaries on the order of the owner or a person authorised by the owner has a lien on the vessel under 46 U.S.C. 31342.[8] So a bunker seller's security can look very different from one country to the next. The answer in a real case depends on the facts and the governing law.
Salvage
The main text is the 1989 Salvage Convention, in force since 14 July 1996. Article 12 states the principle of useful result: salvage with a useful result earns a reward, and otherwise, as a rule, nothing is due. The industry calls this no cure, no pay.[9][10] The best known contract is Lloyd's Open Form, associated with Lloyd's of London.
Article 13 lists ten criteria for the reward, among them the salved value, efforts to prevent environmental damage, the measure of success, the nature of the danger, time and expense, and promptness. Article 14 adds special compensation for salvors working on a ship that threatens the environment. It equals the salvor's expenses and can be raised by up to 30% where environmental damage was prevented or reduced, and by a tribunal up to a maximum of 100%. It is paid only so far as it exceeds the ordinary reward.[10]
Life salvage has its own rules. Under article 10 every master must help anyone in danger of being lost at sea, provided this does not seriously endanger his vessel. Under article 16 people whose lives are saved owe no reward, while a salvor of life can claim a fair share of what is paid for saving the ship or cargo.[10] Türkiye ratified the Convention on 14 May 2013, with reservations.[1]
General Average and the Ever Given
General average shares among the parties any sacrifice or expense deliberately made to save ship and cargo from a common danger. The owner of Ever Given declared general average after she blocked the Suez Canal in March 2021. The Suez Canal Authority first sought USD 916 million, and an Egyptian court order kept the ship waiting in the Great Bitter Lake for months. She sailed on 7 July 2021 once a settlement was signed, with the terms undisclosed.[11] The canal itself is covered under Suez Canal.
Limitation and Insurance
An owner can limit liability for maritime claims to a set amount. Türkiye is party to the 1976 LLMC Convention and its 1996 Protocol, and the rules are also in the Commercial Code.[1] Much of this exposure is met by P&I clubs. Seafarers' minimum rights are set by the Maritime Labour Convention 2006.
Maritime Commerce in Turkish Law
The maritime provisions of Code No. 6102 have applied since 1 July 2012, and they often follow the international conventions. Time bars are among the first things a claimant needs to check.
| Claim | Time bar |
|---|---|
| Cargo damage, loss and late delivery | 1 year |
| Charterparty, contract of carriage, bill of lading | 1 year |
| General average | 1 year |
| Maritime lien | 1 year |
| Salvage and wreck removal | 2 years |
| Collision | 2 years |
| Passenger and luggage claims | 2 years |
Source: The Legal 500, Türkiye Shipping. These are summaries, and start dates and exceptions need checking in each case.[1]
A jurisdiction or arbitration clause often settles from the outset where a dispute will be heard, which makes it the first thing to read. All of the above is general information and not legal advice, and the outcome in a real case depends on the governing law and the contract. For questions about terms on a bunker purchase, Bunkerist can be contacted directly.
Frequently asked questions
What is maritime law?
The shared name for the public law of states' rights at sea and the private law between ship, cargo and people.
Is Türkiye a party to UNCLOS?
No. Türkiye does not appear among the 172 parties in UN records.
Is ship arrest the same as detention?
No. Arrest is a court measure to secure a claim. Detention is an administrative decision on safety grounds under port state control.
What does no cure, no pay mean?
A salvage reward depends on a useful result. Without one, as a rule, nothing is due, apart from special compensation in cases of environmental threat.
Sources
- The Legal 500. Türkiye: Shipping, comparative guide.
- Wikipedia. United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Used as a secondary source.
- United Nations. Chronological Lists of Ratifications, UNCLOS, 2026.
- United Nations. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Part III, Articles 35(c) and 38; Part V; Part VII, Article 101, 1982.
- IISD SDG Knowledge Hub. BBNJ Agreement Enters into Force, 2026.
- Wikipedia. Comité Maritime International. Used as a secondary source.
- UNCITRAL. Rotterdam Rules, Status.
- United States Code. 46 U.S.C. 31342, Maritime Lien on Vessel.
- Wikipedia. International Convention on Salvage. Used as a secondary source.
- United Kingdom. Merchant Shipping Act 1995, Schedule 11, text of the International Convention on Salvage 1989.
- UPI. Egypt: Ever Given Released, Settlement Reached, 7 July 2021.
