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Jeb Clulow

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The COVID pandemic has impacted nearly every aspect of global commerce, and the shipping industry is no exception having experienced severe disruption in many different ways.

Over the past two years, most maritime lawyers will have received multiple enquiries in relation to delays caused to vessels by COVID, where there is a dispute as to whether owners or charterers are liable under the terms of the charterparty.

Against this background, two London arbitration awards have recently been published which shed some light on how Tribunals are grappling with these issues.
Continue Reading COVID related off-hire decisions from the LMAA

Recently, Lloyd’s Maritime Law Newsletter reported on a recent arbitration award in which Reed Smith acted, regarding the requirements for notice under the 1996 Inter-Club Agreement (ICA), as amended in 2011.

The decision concerned a notice that, on the face of it, bore no resemblance to a usual ICA notice as it: a) was given by Charterers prior to the cargo being discharged and hence cargo interests becoming aware of the damage, let alone asserting a cargo claim; b) did not say it was an ICA notice; c) primarily concerned Owners and Charterers arranging a joint survey at discharge; and d) did not contain certain mandatory information prescribed by the ICA.
Continue Reading Notice requirements to prevent the time bar under the Inter Club Agreement

The Court of Appeal in Classic Maritime Inc. v Limbungan Makmur SDN BHD and Another [2019] EWCA Civ 1102 contrasted the circumstances in which an exceptions clause and a contract frustration clause would operate.

The appeal concerned the charterer’s failure to ship five cargos of iron ore from Brazil to Malaysia in the period following the Fundao dam disaster, which had the effect of preventing iron ore cargos from being shipped from Ponta Ubu but not from Tubarao.  The court of first instance had found that the charterer did not intend to ship cargo due to a collapse of demand in Malaysia but, had it wanted to, it would have been unable to source alternative cargo from Tubarao.
Continue Reading Force majeure clauses: what matters is not the label but the content of the tin!

Readers will recall from Reed Smith’s recent blog that concerns have been raised regarding common Inter-Club Agreement (ICA) incorporation clauses.

A London Tribunal, in a recent arbitral award in which Reed Smith acted, held in favour of Reed Smith’s client that a traditional ICA incorporation clause incorporated the entire ICA, including clause 9 (i.e. the entitlement to security).Continue Reading ICA Incorporation Clauses: An update

Last week, the International Group of P & I Clubs published a recommended Inter-Club Agreement (ICA) incorporation clause.

It is commonplace for charterparties to incorporate the ICA as a contract term.  For decades, ICA incorporation clauses have been considered relatively uncontroversial. However, the recent London Arbitration 18/18 decision has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons; the Tribunal found the effect of the ICA incorporation clause in that charterparty was to incorporate, or contractually apply, those parts of the ICA dealing with apportionment but not clause 9 which deals with the provision of security.Continue Reading ICA Incorporation Clauses