This research addresses the main legal problems deriving from the opening of an insolvency procedure, examining the issues of greater legal and operational importance for the maritime transport sector, referring to the two systems which, at a supranational level, regulate cross-border insolvency, i.e. the one inspired by the UNCITRAL Model Law and EU Regulation 848/2015.
The UNCITRAL and EU regulatory frameworks therefore represented the starting point of the scrutiny of the possible areas of conflict between maritime transport and insolvency proceedings: many areas of potential collision emerged, especially in relation to the typical connection criteria of navigation (first and foremost, the flag as a distinctive element of the nationality of the ship) and, therefore, for what concerns the identification of the COMI of the debtor/shipowner, especially if – as it happens frequently at the international level – organized as a shipping group.
The second chapter is dedicated, in a broad sense, to maritime privileges and their relationship with insolvency proceedings, with particular reference to ship mortgages and maritime liens.
In this regard, the main issues related to the implementation of maritime privileges have been analyzed, especially in relation to the legal institution of the arrest of ships in the context of cross-border insolvency.
The third and final chapter is dedicated to the limitation of liability as a typical institution of the maritime sector, from the perspective of possible interference between the establishment of the funds referred to in the LLMC and CLC Conventions and insolvency proceedings.
The research has shown that the universality which aims Regulation 848/2015 and the UNCITRAL system is jeopardized by the coexistence of different interpretations and implementations, such that the cross-border insolvency of shipping companies is not regulated in a uniform manner, with the consequent possibility of different treatment of similar cases and situations.