Special Risks Faced By Shipowner Under Ship Financing Lease And Their Prevention

Ship financing lease is a kind of financing lease,but because of the particularity of its target ship,it is different from ordinary financing lease.Under the ship financing lease,the shipowner as the lessor not only faces the risks that the owner of the leased item may face in general finance leases,such as the lessee's credit risk,performance risk,market risk,etc.,but also faces maritime affairs.The special risks arising from the existence of some systems in the business.In ship financing lease,the ownership and use rights of the ship are separated.The owner of the ship belongs to the lessor.It does not actually control and operate the ship,but the charterer owns and uses the ship.The charterer is actually operate and manage the target ship.Naturally,in principle,it shall be responsible for any disputes arising from the operation of the charterer,irrespective of the lessor.But the reality is that in the ship financing lease,the exercise of the owner's rights may be hindered by certain actions of the charterer in the course of operating the ship,and the shipowner often faces greater risks.In this case,in order to better protect the shipowner's rights and interests in the financing lease process,it is necessary to start with some special systems in maritime and maritime businesses,explore the risks and analyze their impact on the rights of shipowners,so as to propose a way for shipowners under shipfinancing lease to prevent risks,and then better promote the development of ship financing lease industry.The main part of this article is mainly divided into three chapters:The first chapter is a basic elaboration of the theoretical knowledge of the shipowner under the ship financing lease,including the legal status of the shipowner and the main rights enjoyed by the shipowner.The introduction of the legal status of the shipowner allows us to have a clearer positioning of its role in this business model.Only by clarifying the legal status of the shipowner can we better protect against the risks it faces later.The introduction of the main rights enjoyed by shipowner allows us to understand the reasons for the risks discussed later,in which way the rights of shipowners are violated and why these rights are violated.Only by knowing the cause of the risk and its impact,can we put forward corresponding preventive measures accordingly,so as to better protect the rights and interests of shipowners.The second chapter discusses the risks faced by shipowners during the ship purchase phase.Under the financial lease,there are two main forms of ship purchasing,one is the purchase of "ships under construction" and the other is the purchase of second-hand ships.As for "ships under construction",due to the different forms of the ship's ownership,the risks to shipowners are also different and need to be dealt with according to different situations.Compared with "ships under construction",the risks of buying second-hand ships are lessened,but they are not foolproof,and because the second-hand ships are purchased in the ordinary mode or the second-hand ships in the sale and leaseback mode,the risks faced by shipowners are also inconsistent and require separate measures.The third chapter discusses the risks faced by shipowners during the leasing period.At this time,the shipowner,as the lessor of the ship,only enjoys nominal ownership of the ship,and the power of the ship to operate,use,and manage is under the actual control of the charterer.Under normal circumstances,only the charterer fulfills the obligation to pay the rent on time,then although the lessor is the owner of the ship,it will not have any impression on the management and use of the ship.From this level,the charterer is closer to the actual shipowner status.In this case,whether based on the principle of “relative rights and obligations” or the “who controls who is responsible” principle,the charterer shall be responsible for any risks and liabilities arising from the charterer's operation and management of the ship.However,due to the provisions of some special systems in maritime law,the shipowner who is the lessor often has to be passively included as the subject of responsibility,and is challenged by claims or real rights.It is often difficult for shipowners to remain alone for damages caused by ship collisions and ship pollution.In addition,shipowners are also facing the impact on ownership due to security rights such as maritime liens and liens.The existence of these risks puts the rights of shipowners in a threatened state.For shipowners who participate in financial leasing of this industry for investment purposes only,it will more or less crack down on their participation in this kind of industry.The enthusiasm of the business model is also not conducive to the development of the shipping industry.Therefore,it is necessary to propose some targeted measures to prevent these risks,thereby protecting the rights and interests of shipowners,which is necessary for the development of the lessor,charterer and industry.