Asian ship owners have warned of a loss of confidence in the Panamanian ship register if Panama will remain indiscriminately as a friendly jurisdiction for claims filed in Panama courts by Filipino seafarers who have suffered illness, injury or death on board.

Saying that such loss of confidence would lead to an exodus of ships from the Panamanian flag, the Asian ship owners Forum (ASF) urged Panama to ratify a Philippine-proposed treaty under which Panama would give up jurisdiction over claims filed by Filipino seafarers in the Latin American territory.

The ASF are concerned over money claims made by Filipino seafarers and their families as majority of those claims had no link beyond that of being the venue in which the ship had been arrested to obtain claims.

The Panama Canal has been the venue of many ship arrests over the last two to three years, with P&I clubs posting bonds that run up to $50M for the release of a number of ships still pending in Panama's admiralty court.

Since then owners organizations including the International Shipping Federation and ASF have been working with Philippine authorities to find an equitable solution to the problem.

The claims normally appeared to be made by the seaman or his family but they would be generated by "lawyers acting for a percentage of the final award," according to a latter from ASF Ship Insurance Committee and Seamen's Committee to the Panama Maritime Authority. The letter follows a recent ASF Ship Insurance committee meeting held in Seoul, in which the use of Panama as a forum for crew claims was elaborately discussed.

These are usually claims that have long been settled, through payments made fully in accordance with the contract together with, in some cases, additional payments made voluntarily by the ship owner," the two ASF committees said.

They said seafarers' contracts are highly regulated and the vast majority of ship owners, like "those with ships arrested in Panama, comply with those regulations and willingly live up to their responsibilities."