London Arbitration 9/22

An amended NYPE provided for holds to be ready to the satisfaction of Charterers’ nominated surveyor, failing which off-hire from failure to passing. The parties agreed, by email, to a “pre-inspection” before the official “final inspection…alongside”. Following holds’ failure at the pre-inspection, Charterers claimed off-hire. The Tribunal found that (i) “pre-inspection” here meant the parties considered it a ‘trial run’ to protect them from any impact of the official inspection (ii) there was a representation in the emails that the CP off-hire regime would be unaffected by the pre-inspection. Therefore, the Vessel was off hire only from failure at the official inspection.