Maritime Protest - The Master's Account of What Happened at Sea, Recorded Before the Notary While It Still Counts

What a maritime protest is under the Maritime Code of Georgia

The Maritime Code of Georgia, following the international maritime tradition, provides that where during a voyage or in port an event occurs that may give rise to claims against the shipowner - damage to or loss of cargo, damage to the ship, collision, grounding, stranding, fire, machinery breakdown, jettison and other acts of general average, injury, pollution - the master, in order to protect the shipowner's rights and to secure evidence, makes a sea protest (maritime protest) before a notary or, abroad, a consul or the authority the local law designates. The protest is the master's declaration, made on oath or under the master's responsibility, describing the voyage, the event, the circumstances, the measures taken and the damage observed, and reserving the shipowner's rights; the notary records it, attaches the log book extract and the statements of the witnesses the master presents, certifies it and enters it in the register, and issues the master the protest with the notary's certification. The protest does not decide anything, but it fixes the master's account at a time when it cannot be shaped by later claims, and insurers, P&I clubs, cargo interests, average adjusters and courts give it weight for that reason.

The deadline: within a day of arrival

The Code requires the protest to be lodged within a short period after the ship's arrival at the first port of call following the event - twenty-four hours is the rule the Code and maritime practice set, and where the event occurs in port, within twenty-four hours of the event; if it is impossible to lodge within the period, the master lodges it as soon as possible and records the reasons for the delay. Because a late protest loses much of its evidential value and may be rejected as evidence of the shipowner's diligence, the master or the agent contacts a notary before or immediately on arrival; we accept protest requests at any hour from ships' agents at Poti, Batumi and Kulevi, and either the master comes to our notary at Agmashenebeli 117 in Tbilisi or, for vessels that cannot release the master, we arrange the act with a notary at the port. The master declares the protest first and may extend it later, once the cargo is discharged and the damage surveyed, by a supplementary declaration before the same notary, which practice allows and which preserves the initial date.

Foreign masters: interpreter and translation of ship's documents

Masters of foreign-flagged vessels calling at Georgian ports rarely speak Georgian, and the protest is a notarial act in Georgian: our interpreter - in English, Russian, Turkish, Greek, Ukrainian, Chinese or the master's language - attends the act, is recorded in it and signs, and the master's declaration is drafted bilingually so that the master reads and signs what the notary records. The log book extract, the deck and engine logs for the relevant period, the weather reports, the cargo documents (bills of lading, stowage plan, cargo manifest), the crew list and the ship's registration and class documents that the master attaches are translated into Georgian for the act by our translators, who know maritime vocabulary, and the certified protest is translated back into the language the shipowner, the P&I club and the cargo interests use, with a notarized translation and, where it will be used abroad, an apostille through the Ministry of Justice route. Witness statements from officers and crew are taken through the interpreter and attached.

What the protest is used for

The protest is the shipowner's first line of defense and the master's record. Against cargo claims, it documents that the loss or damage arose from a peril the carrier is not liable for - heavy weather, a hidden defect, an act of a third party - and that the master acted with due diligence; in general average, it documents the act and the sacrifice for the adjuster; in collision and grounding cases, it records the master's account of navigation, weather and the other vessel's conduct before the parties' accounts diverge; toward hull and machinery insurers and P&I clubs, it supports the notice of casualty and the claim; and in charter disputes over delay, off-hire or unseaworthiness, it fixes the events and dates. Cargo interests and their surveyors may lodge counter-protests, and the master's protest is the document they must answer. Courts and arbitral tribunals in Georgia, London, Piraeus, Istanbul and elsewhere admit the notarized protest as evidence of the master's contemporaneous declaration, and its evidential weight rises with its promptness and detail.

What the master brings, and how the act runs

The master brings the master's passport or seaman's book and, where the agent presents the request, the agent's authorization; the ship's certificate of registry and, where relevant, class and safety certificates; the deck and engine log books or certified extracts for the voyage and the event; the cargo documents; the crew list; any weather reports, surveys, photographs and communications concerning the event; and the officers or crew who will give statements. Sent to us in advance by the agent, these let us prepare the declaration and the translations so that the act at the notary takes an hour or two; the master declares the protest, the interpreter and the notary record it, the witnesses give their statements, the documents are attached and the notary certifies. The certified protest, its notarized translation and, on request, the apostille go to the master and the agent the same day or the next, and the supplementary protest is arranged when the survey is complete.

Fees, timing and how to arrange it

Fees follow the official tariff for the recording of a maritime protest and for the certification of the attached documents; the interpreter, the translation of the logs and ship's documents and of the protest, and the apostille are quoted separately and in advance, and are usually settled by the ship's agent. Given the deadline, we treat every protest as immediate: an agent who writes to us on WhatsApp, Telegram or email when the vessel is inbound receives confirmation of the notary, the interpreter and the time within the hour, and the act is performed the same day. We also translate and notarize the other documents a casualty generates - surveyors' reports, notices to cargo interests, letters of protest against terminals and stevedores, general average declarations and bonds, port state control reports - with the same maritime team.

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