Eber Clemens BmBH (the plaintiff) sued for damage to a cargo of white rice carried from Nampo, North Korea, to Hamburg, Germany, on the MV Pavlo. The plaintiff filed a lawsuit and applied to arrest the ship while it was in the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Court issued a warrant of arrest and the ship was arrested. The ship's interests applied for its release, alleging a lack of jurisdiction on the part of the Court. The first instance Court dismissed the application, based on art 612 of the Navigation Act. This article establishes that national courts are competent to decide all proceedings in which an owner or operator of a foreign-flagged vessel is a party, in cases in which, according to this law, the vessel can be arrested. The National Chamber of Appeals affirmed the decision. The defendant appealed to the Supreme Court (SC), alleging an infraction of art 614 of the Navigation Act. This rule provides that the liability for breach of a contract of carriage must be decided by the courts of the country where the contract is to be performed or of the domicile of the defendant, at the plaintiff's choice.

Held: The SC affirmed the decision.

The SC asserted that there was no conflict between arts 612 and 614. Both provisions allow the concurrent international jurisdiction of the courts of the place of the performance of the obligation or the place of the defendant's domicile. It also allows jurisdiction in all proceedings in which a shipowner or operator of a foreign ship is a party, where the local law permits the arrest of the ship. There is no reason to restrict the extension of art 612, which states that it applies 'in all proceedings' in which the particular conditions established therein concur. The defendant has not questioned that the ship can be arrested according to the law of Argentina.

The defendant is not domiciled in Hamburg, and there are no more points of connection there than in Buenos Aires. The arrest was executed in Argentina, and sufficient security has been furnished to release the ship from arrest. A P&I Club letter of undertaking has been submitted by the representative of the defendant in this country. This security makes the Argentinian courts appropriate, as their final decisions can be enforced here. Apart from that, there is no detriment for the defendant, as its defence has been, and can be, fully exercised. The defendant does not indicate the pieces of evidence that it would not be able to furnish here. In any case, evidence from the ports of loading and discharge can be obtained by international judicial assistance.