UAE Maritime Law: What the Federal Maritime Law Covers for Owners, Cargo and Crew

Direct answer. Maritime law in the UAE is Federal Decree-Law No. 43 of 2023 Concerning the Maritime Law. It repealed and replaced Federal Law No. 26 of 1981 on Maritime Commercial Law. The new law runs to 369 articles. It covers who may register a ship under the UAE flag and how it is sold or mortgaged. It sets the order in which creditors get paid from a ship and how a creditor can arrest one. It also governs bills of lading and carrier liability for cargo, charter parties, seafarer employment, collisions, salvage and marine insurance. Most claims under it face short deadlines: one year for cargo, crew, collision, salvage and insurance claims. A ship arrest falls away unless the creditor files a validity case within five working days. Each article number below refers to the law's text on the official UAE legislation portal, which LEXAI mirrors at Federal Decree-Law No. 43 of 2023.

Which law applies, and since when

The 2023 decree-law is the federal code for commercial shipping.

• Issued: 28 September 2023 (Article 369).
• In force: six months after its publication in the Official Gazette (Article 369). The publication date is not in the article text, so check it on the UAE legislation portal before you rely on a cut-off date for an older contract.
• What it repealed: Federal Law No. 26 of 1981, as amended, which was replaced in full (Article 368). Regulations issued under the 1981 law stay in effect until new executive regulations are issued, as long as they do not conflict with the new law.
• Scope: all seagoing watercraft, ships and maritime means used in freight forwarding and navigation, subject to the treaties the UAE has ratified (Article 2).
• Gap filler: where the maritime law is silent, Federal Decree-Law No. 50 of 2022 (the Commercial Transactions Law) applies to maritime business (Article 2).
• Excluded: military vessels, and government vessels used for non-commercial purposes (Article 2).

Who administers it

The law names the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure as "the Ministry" (Article 1). It also refers to a "competent authority", which it defines as the government of any emirate or an entity affiliated with it. The Cabinet may entrust an emirate authority with keeping the Ships Register in the Ministry's place, reporting its entries to the Ministry (Article 7). In Dubai, Law No. 3 of 2023 regulates the Dubai Maritime Authority (formerly the Dubai Maritime City Authority, set up in 2007). One of its objectives is to develop and regulate the maritime sector and maritime activities in the emirate (Article 5 of that law). The Ministry's online Maritime Bundle groups its services, including permanent and provisional ship registration certificates, seafarer licences and permissions for foreign vessels.

Find your part of the law

Most readers need one or two chapters, not the whole code.

Owners: registration, flag and ownership transfer

A ship takes UAE nationality only when it is entered in the Ministry's Ships Register (Article 12).

Registration conditions

Article 13 sets five conditions for registration:

1. The ship is normally used in UAE maritime zones, in coastal navigation between UAE ports, or on the high seas.
2. Most of its shares are owned by UAE or GCC nationals, or by persons with a domicile, headquarters or ship-management office in the UAE.
3. It is no more than 20 years old from completion of its build, or 10 years for a passenger ship.
4. The Ministry or its authorised representative has approved its drawings and specifications after inspection.
5. It holds valid international seaworthiness certificates from a classification body the Ministry licenses or recognises.

The Cabinet may amend these conditions, and the Ministry may refuse registration in the public interest (Article 13). Separately, nobody may carry on a maritime activity with a seagoing watercraft unless it is registered with the Ministry or the competent emirate authority (Article 16). Operating a ship under the UAE flag without registration is a crime. The penalty is imprisonment of up to one year and/or a fine of up to AED 100,000, and the court may confiscate the ship (Article 343).

Foreign ships need Ministry approval to carry goods or passengers between UAE ports. The same applies to fishing, towing, pilotage, cruises, supply, fuelling and other maritime services in UAE waters (Article 15).

Selling or transferring a ship

A ship is movable property, but you cannot acquire it simply by taking possession of it (Article 7). Three rules control a sale:

• Attestation: every contract that creates, transfers or ends a right in rem over a ship must be attested by the Ministry, or it is void (Article 24).
• Registration: a legal action or right over the ship cannot be relied on unless it is recorded in the Register (Article 24).
• Debts first: the owner of a UAE-registered ship cannot transfer it before paying every debt recorded in the Register, unless the creditor consents. A transfer made without this is void (Article 25). The seller returns the registration certificate, and the buyer receives a new one only if it meets the Article 13 conditions.

Ship finance: mortgages and maritime liens

Two kinds of security sit on a ship: a registered mortgage, and liens that arise by law.

Mortgages

• A ship of any tonnage can be mortgaged, including while it is being built (Article 41).
• A co-owned ship can be mortgaged as a whole only with the approval of owners holding at least three-quarters of the shares. Failing that, the court of the port of registration decides (Article 41).
• The mortgage must be made by a written instrument with authenticated signatures, or it is void. It may be executed through electronic means (Article 42).
• The mortgage survives over the wreck. It does not attach to insurance money unless the mortgage contract says so and the insurers accept it in writing or are notified of it (Article 43).

Liens and their order of payment

Some debts follow the ship wherever it goes. Article 29 ranks them in this order:

Liens end on a judicial sale of the ship. They can also end on a voluntary sale if the buyer registers the purchase and publishes the sale as Article 36 requires. A lien claim cannot be heard after one year if the debtor denies it and there is no lawful excuse. For debts from contracts made by the ship agent or captain (rank 5), the limit is six months from the due date (Article 37).

Ship arrest: how creditors hold a vessel

A creditor with a "maritime debt" can ask the competent court for a prejudgment attachment, which stops the ship from sailing (Articles 53 and 57).

Article 53 lists 22 types of maritime debt. They include damage caused by the ship, injury or death, and salvage. They also cover charter and carriage contracts, cargo loss, towage and pilotage, and supplies, fuel and repairs. Port dues, crew wages, insurance premiums, ownership disputes and mortgages complete the list. The process runs like this:

1. Apply to the court. The court will not order the arrest until it accepts a financial guarantee from the applicant. The guarantee covers the security and safety of the ship and crew during the arrest (Article 56).
2. The ship stays in port. Arrest prevents the ship from sailing (Article 57).
3. Sister ships. You may arrest the ship the debt relates to, or another ship the debtor owns when you apply. Disputes over ownership, co-ownership, mortgages and sale contracts are the exception: those allow arrest only of the ship concerned (Article 54).
4. File within five working days. The creditor must file a case on the validity of the arrest within five working days, or the arrest is void (Article 59).
5. Fast hearing. The hearing is set within 15 days of the arrest report. A judgment confirming the arrest also orders the sale, and an appeal must be lodged within 15 days (Article 59).
6. Release on security. The court lifts the arrest when sufficient security is given. Letters of guarantee from protection and indemnity clubs or financial institutions can count. For ownership and co-ownership disputes, the court may instead let the owner operate the ship against security (Article 57). Asking for release is not an admission of the debt.

The court where the ship is arrested can decide the merits, even for a foreign ship, in the cases Article 60 lists. These include a plaintiff based in the UAE, a debt that arose in the UAE, and a collision, salvage or mortgage claim. An arbitration agreement takes priority over the arrest court's jurisdiction (Article 60). If you are trying to recover a debt that is not maritime, the general routes in our payment order and civil claim guide apply instead.

Cargo interests: bills of lading, liability limits and notices

The carrier must deliver cargo complete, intact and on time, and it answers for loss or damage from receipt to delivery (Articles 171 and 175).

What the bill of lading proves

The carrier must issue a bill of lading on request once it receives or loads the goods (Article 157). The bill records the goods, the ship, the freight, the ports and the date. Against a good-faith third party, including the consignee, the carrier cannot prove facts contrary to the bill. An electronic bill of lading has the same legal force as a paper one if the system identifies its legal holder, guarantees the bill's integrity, and lets the holder prove possession (Article 163). Outside coastal navigation, cargo may be carried on deck only with the shipper's written permission, or where port regulations, the nature of the cargo or port custom require it, and the bill must say so (Article 171).

How much the carrier pays

SDR values follow the International Monetary Fund's published rate, and judgments are paid in UAE dirhams (Article 177).

Notices you must give

• Visible damage: note a written reservation before or at delivery. Otherwise, the goods are presumed delivered as the bill describes (Article 183).
• Hidden damage: notify the carrier in writing at the port of discharge within 15 days of taking delivery (Article 183).
• What a missed notice means: missing either notice does not end the claim, but you then have to prove the damage. A joint inspection at delivery with the carrier removes the need for notice (Article 183).
• Delay: give written notice within 60 days of delivery, or no delay compensation is due (Article 185).

Charter parties

A charter party must be in writing and must state the parties, the ship, the freight, the cargo, and the loading and unloading arrangements (Article 131).

The law regulates three types. A bareboat charter puts a ship at the charterer's disposal for a fixed period without crew (Article 137). A voyage charter provides an equipped and crewed ship for one or more voyages (Article 140). A time charter provides an equipped and crewed ship for a fixed period (Article 150). Selling the ship does not end a charter party automatically, unless a buyer who neither knew nor could have known of it asks to end it (Article 135).

Crew: seafarer contracts, pay and leave

A seafarer works under a written seafarer employment contract with the ship's operator, which the law calls the "ship's husband" (Article 94).

• Labour Law as backstop: Federal Decree-Law No. 33 of 2021 on employment relations applies wherever the maritime law and its regulations are silent (Article 95). So general labour entitlements, such as those in our gratuity guide, may be relevant to a gap the maritime law leaves.
• Wages: the contract sets the wage, and wages are paid in dirhams unless another currency is agreed. No deductions are allowed except in cases the executive regulations specify (Article 97).
• Health insurance: the operator must buy health cover for the seafarer and cannot deduct the premium from wages (Article 99).
• Injury or illness on board that leaves the seafarer unable to work: the seafarer gets full wages while on the ship until returned home, plus treatment and accommodation costs, and compensation where due. The exceptions are injury unrelated to service, misconduct, or an illness the seafarer concealed when hired (Article 100).
• Annual leave: at least three days for each month of service on a fixed-term contract. Unused leave is paid in cash on exit, up to two years' worth (Article 101).
• Termination: an open-ended contract needs 30 days' written notice. Breaching the notice period costs the wage for that period (Article 103).
• Sale of the ship: a compulsory or voluntary sale ends the seafarer contract. Wages earned are kept, and the seafarer may claim compensation (Article 103).
• Abandonment: if a ship is abandoned and wages go unpaid for two months in a row, the Ministry may attach the operator's ships and auction them to pay the crew (Article 103).
• Where to sue: UAE courts have jurisdiction over seafarer contracts unless the contract agreed otherwise (Article 105). A claim cannot be heard after one year from the contract's end if the employer denies it and there is no lawful excuse (Article 106).

Crew wages also rank second among the liens on the ship (Article 29), and wage claims are a maritime debt that supports an arrest (Article 53).

Collisions, salvage and marine insurance

The law allocates accident losses by fault and sets its own courts and deadlines.

• Collision: the ship at fault pays. Shared fault is split in proportion, or equally if the shares cannot be fixed. Liability for death or injury on board is joint (Articles 237–238). The owner is liable for a pilot's fault even when pilotage is compulsory (Article 237). You may sue where the defendant is domiciled, at the port of registration, where the collision happened, or, subject to conditions, where the defendant's ship (or another of its ships) is arrested (Article 240).
• Salvage: a successful salvage earns a fair reward that cannot exceed the value of what was saved (Article 244).
• Insurance: a marine insurance contract must be in writing (Article 281). Every ship operating in UAE ports or territorial waters must carry liability insurance for marine risks, and UAE-flagged ships must insure their liability on every voyage (Article 333).

The deadlines that decide most claims

Most time bars in this law are one year, and each one starts from a different event.

The time bars apply where the defendant denies the claim and there is no lawful excuse. The lien periods can extend to three years when the ship cannot be attached in UAE waters, for the claimants Article 37 lists. Count from the right event, and do not wait for negotiations to end.

Settling or arbitrating a maritime dispute

Parties may settle, arbitrate or go to court, and the law supports each route.

A reconciliation or conciliation report can be ratified under the rules for arbitral awards. Once ratified, it binds like a final judgment before UAE courts (Article 4). Parties to a collision can agree on a court or on arbitration (Article 240). For how arbitration works onshore, see our UAE arbitration law guide. If you hold a foreign arbitral award against a shipowner whose vessel or other assets are in the UAE, read enforcing foreign arbitral awards in the UAE. For a claim that goes to court, how a civil lawsuit works in the UAE explains filing and costs.

When to get legal help

Get advice early when a deadline in days is running, such as a ship arrest, a cargo notice or a delay claim. The same goes for a sale or mortgage of a registered ship that needs Ministry attestation. The executive regulations, which will set many procedures and forms, are referred to throughout the law. Check the current version with the Ministry of Energy and Infrastructure or a licensed UAE lawyer before acting. You can compare maritime and shipping lawyers on LEXAI, or ask the LEXAI AI assistant for general information about how the law applies to your situation. It is not a substitute for advice on your specific facts.