The Astypalia
| Jurisdiction | Egipto |
| Court | Obsolete Court (Egypt) |
| Date | 02 November 1960 |
(Mohamed Ali Gamal el Dine, President; Dr. Hamed Sultan, Mohamed Anwar Abdel Latif, Dr. Ali Sadek Abou Heif, Amid Sayed Sayad Gad, Members.)
Warfare at sea — Restrictions on right of capture — Property under neutral flag — Vessel flying neutral flag but owned or controlled by enemy — Whether cargo may be seized — The law of the United Arab Republic.
The Facts.—The Astypalia was owned by Greek nationals, was registered at Piraeus, and flew the Greek flag. The owners, by a charterparty dated December 7, 1959, effected an unrestricted hiring of the vessel for two years to New Trading Mediterranean Seaway Ltd., Haifa (Israel). As a result of this charterparty the owners of the ship sent the captain instructions on December 11, 1959, to sail to Haifa. On arrival at Haifa the vessel was loaded with a cargo of cement consigned by Palestine Portland Cement Works Nasher Ltd., Haifa, and addressed “The State Bank of Ethiopia, Asmara; notify Antonatos Bros. & Co., Asmara”. The captain was given a copy of the bills of lading. The vessel sailed for Djibouti on December 16.
On December 17, the Astypalia arrived at Port Said, flying the Greek flag. The captain was requested by the United Arab Republic Customs authorities to unload the cargo, failing which the vessel would not be allowed to continue its voyage through the Suez Canal. After first refusing, the captain eventually agreed. The cargo was unloaded, and the ship was allowed to continue its voyage.
The Advocate General placed the matter before the Prize Court and requested the Court to hold the seizure of the cargo valid and to order its confiscation to the profit of the State. Notification of the proceedings was sent to the Greek Consul in Port Said and to the Port Said agents of the owners. Within the period permitted by law nobody came forward to request that the cargo be freed.
Held: that the seizure of the cargo was lawful. (i) A neutral ship chartered to an enemy company must be treated as an enemy ship; (ii) cargo on board an enemy ship must be presumed to be enemy cargo.
The Court said: “The seized cargo was consigned by Palestine Portland Cement Works Nasher Ltd., Haifa, and in the documents there was no indication at all to show that the ownership of the cargo had passed to the consignee. In fact, a copy of the bill of lading relating to the cargo found amongst the documents contained nothing suggesting such a transfer, quite apart from the fact that...
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