Under a T/C trip, Charterers, having stemmed bunkers, failed to pay the supplier, who then arrested the Vessel at the discharge port; Owners’ P&I first secured and then paid the supplier’s claim, plus costs. Charterers contested any C/P liability to reimburse Owners but the Tribunal disagreed, finding that a ‘non lien’ clause in the pro forma C/P had been incorporated into the present C/P and rendered Charterers liable. The Tribunal also dismissed Charterers’ underperformance claim as the 4 days complained of was the period of the supplier’s arrest.

Charterers relied on their WRC report (based on broad satellite data) to support their speed and consumption claim based on 24 hours ‘good weather’ as required and defined in the C/P. Owners contested this on the basis of a screenshot from the Vessel’s ECDIS (recording actual route conditions). The Tribunal disregarded the latter, as it covered insufficient time, but nonetheless dismissed Charterers’ claim as their sole evidence, the WRC report, itself showed adverse currents, albeit for sub-periods of the 24 hours.

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The holders of 4 B/Ls claimed against Owners for misdelivery of their logs carried on board “Taikoo Brilliance”. The CA upheld Owners’ argument that the claim was time-barred, as security proceedings against a sister ship did not count as the necessary “suit” under Art.III r.6 of the incorporated Hague-Visby Rules, and the substantive claim was made more than one year after delivery. The CA (overturning the Court below) also agreed that the fact that some logs were carried on deck did not disapply the Rules (and their time bar) under Art.1(c) as the B/Ls did not make it possible to identify which of the (non-homogenous) logs were carried on deck.

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The charterers were held liable for hull damage caused by the stevedores’ barge, in circumstances where Clause 8 of the NYPE 1993 charterparty placed responsibility for cargo operations upon the charterers, and clause 35 provided that charterers should pay for stevedore damage. However, the owners’ damages were reduced substantially because they failed to prove post-redelivery loss of use.

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Shortly after 3 containers of Sree’s calcium hypochlorite (in tablet form, in boxes) were loaded on board Maersk’s chartered Vessel at Jebel Ali for carriage, there was an explosion in 1 or 2 of the containers and a fire on board. Maersk claimed that there had been violent decomposition of the cargo in breach of the B/L terms and sought some USD 13m in damages comprising settlement payments to (i) head owners, (ii) salvors, (iii) to those interested in other cargoes affected, plus other miscellaneous losses. The Court agreed, ruling that ‘Safmarine’ B/L terms were incorporated providing English jurisdiction, obligations as to potentially dangerous cargoes and their packing and as to indemnification, all of which had been contested by Sree, who failed to take part.

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The Grande Island was time chartered on the NYPE form for a trip from Ghent to Nigeria. The C/P incorporated the BIMCO 2013 Piracy Clause,  paragraph (c), providing Owners with liberty to take preventative measures, such as re-routing, in an area exposed to Piracy risk. Whilst waiting off Warri, as ordered, events arose giving Owners grounds for piracy risk concerns and they took the Vessel to wait off Lagos instead.  An Arbitration Tribunal upheld Owners’ claim for hire during the period away from Warri, rejecting Charterers’ argument that as the parties had chosen to delete the more generous liberties in paragraphs (a) and (b) of the BIMCO clause, they had effectively made paragraph (c ) redundant. On appeal by Charterers, the Court upheld the Tribunal’s ruling, and the Vessel remained on-hire.

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