A lawyer representing a bulker arrested in Malta is continuing to contest a controversial ruling that a mortgagee is free to seize a ship even after it has been sold at auction.

Ann Fenech, managing partner of Fenech & Fenech Advocates, told TradeWinds the decision by Malta's Superior Courts of Appeal to back mortgagee Jebmed has been met by "a tsunami of disapproval by all practicing maritime lawyers of standing."