Maritime trade is central to the global economy, and Türkiye’s position between Europe and Asia has made it a hub for shipping for centuries. The Turkish Straits alone carry tens of thousands of vessels a year, and busy load and discharge ports at Istanbul, Kocaeli, Mersin, Izmir and Iskenderun generate a steady flow of disputes involving foreign owners, charterers and cargo interests. The core of Turkish maritime trade law is set out in Book 5 of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, supplemented by international conventions to which Türkiye is a party. This page outlines the framework and the issues that most often affect owners, charterers, cargo interests and their insurers.
What counts as a ship
The Turkish Commercial Code defines a ship as any vessel designed to move on water, capable of floating, and of a certain size. Vessels without their own propulsion, such as barges and pontoons, still qualify. A merchant ship is one allocated to, or actually used for, economic purposes, regardless of who owns or operates it. This classification matters in practice because it determines which parts of Book 5 apply, whether a claim can be secured against the vessel, and how the ship is treated in enforcement.
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For commercial voyages, a vessel must meet safety and certification standards, including:
- Fitness for sea travel and cargo carriage under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS)
- The navigation certificates required by the flag state
- Compliance with applicable international rules
A vessel that fails to meet these standards may be barred from commercial voyages, and detention by port state control can itself become the trigger for delay and off-hire disputes between owners and charterers.
Ships as movable property
Under Article 936 of the Turkish Commercial Code, all ships are movable property, whether or not they are entered in the registry. The exception in Article 937 covers ships that the Code expressly subjects to the immovable-property provisions of the Execution and Bankruptcy Law. For a creditor, this hybrid status is significant, because it shapes how a mortgage is created, how a vessel is seized, and how a judicial sale is conducted.
Registration, ownership and the ship registry
Ships are entered at the port of registry. Owners running voyages from foreign ports, or based in inland cities, may register elsewhere, and separate registries exist for ships under construction. An owner without a Turkish residence or commercial enterprise must appoint a local representative, which is a point foreign owners should address before, not after, a dispute arises.
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Key points on ownership:
- The ship registry is public: anyone may inspect it and obtain copies for the relevant fee, which allows a prospective buyer or creditor to check for registered mortgages before acting.
- The person recorded as owner is presumed to be the owner, along with holders of registered mortgages and other rights.
- Transfer of a registered ship requires an agreement on the transfer of ownership and delivery of possession; the agreement must be in writing with notarised signatures, or made at the ship registry (Art. 1001).
- Ownership may also be acquired by prescription: after five years of registration and uninterrupted possession by a person wrongly registered as owner, or, for a ship that should have been but was not registered, after ten years of possession and a court-ordered registration (Arts. 999-1000).
Every Turkish ship must fly the Turkish flag, a right documented by its certificate of registry. The first Turkish owner registers the ship’s name, which must be unique; changing it later requires Ministry permission, and the port of registry must be clearly displayed on the hull.
Ship mortgages and limitation of liability
Registering a ship mortgage prevents the limitation period from running on the secured claim (Art. 984). Turkish law also allows liability for maritime claims to be limited under Article 1328, which applies the 1976 Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims as amended by its 1996 Protocol; the scope and conditions vary by claim. For owners facing a major casualty, establishing a limitation fund early can be a decisive strategic step; for cargo and injury claimants, understanding whether limitation applies is essential to valuing the claim realistically.
A vessel is often a claimant’s only meaningful asset in the jurisdiction. Arrest is not just a remedy for what has already gone wrong: it is the leverage that turns a disputed claim into a negotiated settlement before the ship sails away.
Arrest, detention and security
Cargo interests may secure claims for delayed, lost or damaged cargo. Türkiye is a party to the 1999 International Convention on Arrest of Ships, in force for Türkiye since 11 December 2019, and the arrest provisions of Book 5 of the TCC (Arts. 1352 et seq.) closely follow it: a ship may be arrested only for a maritime claim listed in Article 1352. Arrest can be used to obtain security not only for local proceedings but also for litigation or arbitration abroad, which makes a Turkish port a valuable choke point for enforcing claims that have no other connection to Türkiye.
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The creditor must satisfy the court that the claim is a listed maritime claim and show its value (Art. 1362), and must provide security of 10,000 Special Drawing Rights, which the court may increase on the owner’s request (Art. 1363); a creditor whose arrest proves wrongful can be sued for damages before the court that ordered it (Art. 1361). Whether a claim asserted in Türkiye gives a maritime lien is decided under Turkish law (Art. 1320). Under Article 1369, the ship concerned may be arrested where, among other cases, the person liable owned or chartered her when the claim arose and owns her when the arrest is carried out, where the claim is secured by a mortgage, or where it gives a maritime lien. Sister-ship arrest of another vessel is possible only if, at the time of arrest, that vessel belongs to the person liable for the claim who was the owner or charterer of the ship concerned when the claim arose; ships owned by separate single-ship companies are not covered merely because they trade in the same fleet.
What this means for you
If you are a cargo interest or bunker supplier, identify the vessel’s next Turkish call and prepare the arrest file, including the power of attorney and supporting evidence, in advance so the application can be filed while she is in port. If you are an owner, keep your P&I correspondents and Turkish counsel on standby so security can be substituted quickly and the vessel released with minimal delay.
Release and judicial sale
An owner can obtain release by depositing the vessel’s value or providing a mortgage or reputable bank guarantee accepted by the enforcement officer (Art. 1370), or by asking the court to lift the arrest against sufficient security for the claim, interest and costs, capped at the ship’s value (Art. 1371). The parties may agree the type and amount of security freely (Art. 1372), which is the route for a Club Letter of Undertaking (LOU). The main options compare as follows:
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| Security type | Legal basis | Practical notes |
|---|---|---|
| P&I Club LOU | Agreement of the parties (Art. 1372) | Standard market practice; available only if the claimant accepts it |
| Bank guarantee | Arts. 1370-1371 | Widely used; requires the owner to tie up credit lines |
| Cash deposit | Arts. 1370-1371 | Certain but capital-intensive; usually a last resort |
Where a vessel is sold in a judicial sale, the enforcement office conducts the sale and, if the proceeds do not cover all claims, distributes them in the statutory order of Articles 1389-1397. Once the price is paid, all real and personal rights and encumbrances on the ship end, except those the buyer assumes with the mortgagee’s consent (Art. 1388), which is why the ranking of maritime liens against the sale proceeds is often the real battleground rather than liability itself.
Bills of lading and foreign awards
Liability under a bill of lading depends on correctly identifying the carrier and the governing law. Türkiye applies the international carriage regimes reflected in Book 5, and the jurisdiction or arbitration clause on the reverse of the bill can determine where and how a cargo claim is resolved. For dispute resolution abroad, Türkiye is a party to the 1958 New York Convention, which frames the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards; awards from non-party states, and foreign court judgments, are handled under Turkish private international law through a recognition and enforcement action.
Time limits
Maritime claims are subject to strict time limits that differ by claim type, including contract and tort claims, personal injury and passenger claims, cargo claims, and salvage and collision claims. Because these periods can be short, acting promptly is essential to preserve a claim. Just as important, evidence such as survey reports, mate’s receipts, stowage plans and vessel logs should be secured early, because a claim that is technically in time can still fail for want of proof.
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A practical habit that pays off: as soon as an incident occurs, note reservations on the delivery documents, appoint a surveyor before the cargo or the vessel moves on, and put the other side on written notice. These low-cost steps preserve both the limitation position and the evidential record, and they signal to the opposing P&I club that the claim will be pursued professionally, which often improves the early settlement dynamic.
Do not wait for the merits to become clear before you protect your position. In shipping, the vessel and the evidence can both be gone within days, and a claim you cannot secure or prove is worth little.
How we help
We advise owners, operators, charterers, cargo interests and insurers on ship arrest and release, mortgages, cargo and collision disputes, and the enforcement of awards and judgments in Türkiye. We work alongside foreign counsel and P&I clubs, and we organise the procedural steps that an arrest and security require while a vessel is in port. If you are facing an arrest, a cargo claim or an enforcement question, contact us to discuss your position.
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