Step-by-step conveyancing and procedure stages

Send us the documents and the deadline

Share the bill of lading or charterparty, the survey or claim file, the vessel name and ETA, and any limitation date you know. We treat every matter as time-sensitive until we confirm otherwise.

Assess the claim, security and the right forum

We confirm whether you hold a qualifying maritime claim, estimate the security the court is likely to require, and map the right forum: Turkish maritime court, foreign arbitration or the Insurance Arbitration Commission.

Secure the asset: ship arrest or attachment

Where security is needed, we file for conservatory arrest of the vessel or attachment of other assets, lodge counter-security and instruct the enforcement office so the ship cannot clear.

Build and file the claim

We prepare and file the cargo, freight, charterparty or marine insurance claim, with sworn translations and apostilled documents where the court requires them, working on your notarised power of attorney.

Negotiate, mediate or litigate to recovery

We pursue settlement on commercial terms where it serves you, and litigate or arbitrate where it does not, keeping security in place throughout.

Enforce the judgment or award and release security

We enforce the judgment or arbitral award through judicial sale or attachment under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, distribute proceeds by priority, and return or call security as the outcome requires.

Critical statutory deadlines and calendar windows

Time limits that decide the claim

about 1 year~~CMR road-cargo claims: roughly one year from delivery (longer where wilful misconduct is alleged) under the CMR Convention, which governs international road carriage to and from Turkiye.~~

What to have ready before the ship sails

Maritime claims fail more often on procedure than on the merits, and an arrest is a race against the vessel's schedule. Gathering the following before you make contact keeps the options open.

Pull the contract of carriage - the bill of lading or the charterparty - together with any fixture recap, and identify which party is named as the carrier.
Note the vessel's name and its ETA at the Turkish port, so the timing of any arrest application can be worked back from the call.
Collect the survey report and the claim file showing the damage, shortage or misdelivery, and check whether notice of loss or damage was given in time.
Confirm the limitation date for your mode of carriage before anything else - CMR road claims run from delivery or expected delivery, not from when the loss was discovered.
Check whether the debt is one of the maritime claims listed in Book Five of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, since only those support an arrest.
Read the jurisdiction and arbitration clause in the fixture, so the forum and the security strategy are set together rather than in sequence.
Start the notarised, apostilled power of attorney early - notarisation and apostille in your own country is usually the slowest step.

Governing statutory provisions under Turkish law

6102~~LAW NO.~~

Turkish Commercial Code (Turk Ticaret Kanunu) · Book Five (Deniz Ticareti)

In force since 1 July 2012, it governs vessels and ownership, charterparties, carriage of goods by sea and bills of lading, collision, salvage, general average, maritime liens, mortgages and marine insurance, and sets the closed list of maritime claims that can found a conservatory ship arrest.

2004~~LAW NO.~~

Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (Icra ve Iflas Kanunu)

Enforcement of the arrest, judicial sale of a vessel and distribution of the sale proceeds by statutory priority run through this law.

5718~~LAW NO.~~

Act on Private International and Procedural Law (MOHUK)

Decides cross-border questions of applicable law and jurisdiction, gives effect to valid foreign jurisdiction and arbitration clauses, and provides the route for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Turkiye.

Maritime & Transport Law in Türkiye: Ship Arrest Stages, Security & Cargo Deadlines