The Cape Town Convention and Proprietary Security over Ships

Abstract

The regime of proprietary security interests in mobile assets under the 2001 Unidroit Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment (hereinafter: Cape Town Convention) has developed into one of the most resounding successes in the history of legal harmonisation in the field of secured transactions. By 2013, the Cape Town Convention had attracted 59 Contracting Parties,1 while the 2001 Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Aircraft Equipment (hereinafter: Aircraft Protocol) boasted 53.2 With the adoption of the 2007 Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Railway Rolling Stock (hereinafter: Luxembourg Protocol) and the 2012 Protocol to the Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment on Matters specific to Space Assets (hereinafter: Berlin Protocol), the secured transaction regime set in place by the Cape Town Convention was completed for all three categories...