29/05/2026

ITLOS makes record award in long-running Heroic Idun ship detention case

On Wednesday, a Special Chamber of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) delivered its judgment in the case of The M/T “Heroic Idun” (No. 2), Republic of the Marshall Islands v Republic of Equatorial Guinea.

Twenty Essex barristers Sir Daniel Bethlehem KC, Penelope Nevill, Manuel Casas, Courtney Grafton, Paolo Busco and Jiahui Huang represented the successful claimant, the Marshall Islands.

The judgment found that Equatorial Guinea had violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) by intercepting and detaining the Marshall Islands-registered tanker Heroic Idun and its crew, and awarded the Marshall Islands more than US$14 million in compensation, including over US$4 million for mistreatment of the crew. This is believed to be the largest amount ever awarded by ITLOS.

The vessel in question was intercepted on 12 August 2022 by the Equatorial Guinea navy in the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Saõ Tomé and Principe, detained in Equatorial Guinea until 11 November 2022, and then escorted out and transferred to Nigerian authorities. In total, the crew spent more than nine months in detention before being released.

The Special Chamber unanimously held that the interception and detention breached fundamental principles of international law, including freedom of navigation and exclusive flag State jurisdiction, under UNCLOS, and that the interception and subsequent enforcement measures taken by Equatorial Guinea were contrary to international law and constituted “a continuing wrongful international act”.

The counsel team were instructed by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, represented by Meredith Kirby, Deputy Commissioner of Maritime Affairs and Maritime Administrator, and Bernard Adiniwin, Attorney-General, working closely with a solicitor team from Reed Smith.