A recent decision of the Commercial Court in London (handed down
on 8 November 2011) has clarified the limits of a shipowner's
obligation under the Conwartime 1993 clauses to obey his
charterer's orders to navigate waters rendered parlous because
of the threat of piracy. Although the reasoning of Teare J in
The Triton Lark1 differs from the analysis we
have previously adopted, ultimately both constructions arrive at
the same practical result.
Conwartime
The Conwartime 1993 clauses have been incorporated in the
majority of time charters concluded in recent times. By the terms
of Clause 1, "War Risks" are defined to include
"acts of piracy ......
Specific Questions relating to this article should be addressed directly to the author.
In a judgment handed down on 2 May 2012, the UK Supreme Court has made a significant ruling on the rights of remuneration of the owners of a time-chartered ship after the ship has been lawfully withdrawn for non-payment of hire.
In a judgment handed down on 27 April 2012, Mr Justice Cooke has held that, in circumstances where the time charterers were in repudiatory breach of charterparty in purporting to redeliver the vessel early, the owners were entitled to refuse early redelivery, affirm the charterparty and hold the charterers liable for hire for the balance of the minimum period of the charterparty.
On 19 April 2012 the European Parliament voted to approve a new bilateral agreement between the EU and USA which permits the transfer of passenger name record (PNR) data to the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from airlines flying from the EU to the USA. The data is being transferred for the purposes of national security.
In common with many disputes that have gone to court or arbitration in the past three years, this one took place against the background of the financial crisis in late 2008 when the market for both charter rates and bunker prices dropped considerably.
It is clear that piracy is a serious threat to shipping across large parts of the Indian Ocean and Arabian Sea, as pirate groups grow in strength, resources and expertise.
In our April 2011 E-Brief, we reviewed the Commercial Court decision in this dispute, where the judge upheld the charterers’ claim for damages against the owners on the basis that the vessel was not in a fit state to be approved by any oil company and, in particular, the oil majors identified in the recap email containing the charterparty.
Far East Chartering Ltd (formerly known as Visa Comtrade Asia Limited) and (2) Binani Cement Limited v. Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (MV Jag Ravi) [2012] EWCA Civ 180.
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