London Arbitration 26/19

London Arbitration 26/19

“Charterers made a deduction from hire on the grounds of an underperformance claim under a cp on a NYPE 1993 form. The Tribunal found that the deduction was unlawful as it constituted a breach of clause 46 of the cp, pursuant to which "Charterers are entitled to deduct from last sufficient hire payments only value of bunkers on redelivery...". Charterers' argument that the clause dealt only with bunkers adjustments but did not preclude equitable set-off of performance claims was rejected. In fact, it was held that the purpose of the clause was to protect Owners from possible iniquitous ad hoc deductions disguised as equitable set off and if Charterers had a performance claim, they should have claimed damages independently.”

Antonino Cordopatri
E. G. Arghyrakis & Co.
13th November 2019