Saudi Arabia introduced, for the first time, a bespoke Commercial Maritime Law, the Maritime Law, which came into effect on 3 July 2019. According to Lexigram, the Maritime Law applies to all Saudi Arabia-flagged vessel and foreign ones that arrive at the Kingdom’s ports and territorial waters.
Generally, the Law implements measures on vessel registration, vessel nationality/flag and non-Saudi vessels.
The Maritime Law affects the Non-Saudi vessels since they are not allowed to undertake towage, pilotage, supply services and coastal transportation activities within Kingdom’s waters unless an exemption licence is obtained from the president of the Public Transport Authority (the PTA).
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As Clyde & CO highlighted, the above provision applies to all Offshore Support Vessels (OSVs), the majority of which operate in the Kingdom are not Saudi-flagged.
Yet, it is supported that the Law provides limitations to an OSV owner, as in the possibility that an OSV owner or one who does not obtain exemption certificate from the president of the PTA, will be affected from both a financial and commercial perspective, including:
- The owner might be fined between SAR2,000 and SAR50,000;
- The OSV might be detained; although this is not provided for in the Maritime law;
- The OSV might be refused clearance to leave the Kingdom’s waters.
