Irrespective of whether it is admiralty or non-admiralty, an action in personam is one commenced against a person. The defendant [in a shipping situation] to a claim is usually a foreign entity with no assets in the forum, leaving the plaintiff with difficulties in establishing jurisdiction and the enforcement of any judgment obtained against a defendant. For example, a ship, belonging to owner, A residing in country X, defaulted by damaging the jetty of country Y. The jetty owner of country Y, B will have difficulties as aforesaid if he (B) were to take up an action in persona towards A, who most likely than not, will not present at Y for the hearing. B has no security from A as A is most likely than not, will not have assets in Y.
If A is a one-ship company, he is susceptible to insolvency, which further reduces their viability as a target for in personam actions.
It is an action against the res26 (“thing”), which is usually a ship but could in some situations also include other kinds of maritime properties, like cargo and freight.27 Although in the Singapura Timur, the res had sunk in a depth of 48m in the Straits of Malacca, the sheriff may appoint a process server, the diver to serve the writ on the res on his behalf.
There is no summative assessment for this part as it will be dealt with more extensively in chapter 7.