항만당국의 항내 구조에 따른 구조보수의 청구에 관한 판례연구

A Case Study on the Claim of Salvage Reward by Salvage in the Port of Port Authority

The purpose of this study aims to analyse the claim of salvage reward by salvage in the port of port authority with the Cleopatra Dream. The appellant institute an instituted an action in which it claimed a salvage reward from the vessel and the cargo, arising from a salvage operation carried out by tugs belonging to the appellant. Whether the salvage operation carried out by the appellant in connection with the respondents was rendered voluntarily and not in the performance of a statutory or common law duty. In other words, in the event of it being found that the salvage operation was carried out in performance of a statutory or common law duty, and accordingly, not voluntarily, as averred by the respondents, whether the appellant was nonetheless entitled to a salvage reward by reason of art. 17 of the International Convention on Salvage 1989. The Supreme Court of Appeal was held that the appellant rendered the relevant services to the vessel pursuant to, and within, both a statutory and common law duty and thus not voluntarily as that term is understood in the law of salvage. As it was common cause that art.17 does not apply in this matter, and as it contains the only requirement of voluntariness in the Convention. Art. 17 is the only restriction on who can claim salvage reward, with the result that the Convention applies to any person performing a salvage operation that goes beyond the scope of an existing contract.