The High Court has handed down Judgment in Vitol SA v Beta Renowable SA [2017] EWHC 1734 (Comm) highlighting the importance of ensuring that communication and conduct for the purpose of accepting repudiatory breach is clear and unambiguous. This concerned a contractual dispute between Vitol, a major oil trader, and Beta Renowable Group, a manufacturer … Continue Reading
Sino Channel Asia Ltd v. Dana Shipping and Trading Pte Singapore and Another [2016] EWHC 1118 (Comm) A recent English High Court decision serves as a reminder of the importance of taking great care in relation to service of notice to commence arbitration. The case concerned whether the notice was sent to the correct party. … Continue Reading
In the recent case of MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. v. Cottonex Anstalt [2016] EWCA Civ 789 the Court of Appeal ruled that the commercial purpose of the contract had been frustrated and that demurrage on detained containers which could not be redelivered to the carrier did not accrue indefinitely.… Continue Reading
Reed Smith (Charles Weller) recently acted for the successful Respondents in Wuhan Guoyu Logistics Group Co Ltd v Emporiki Bank of Greece SA [2013] EWCA Civ 1679. The Respondents were sellers under a shipbuilding contract. The Applicant was the buyers’ bank. When the buyers refused to pay an instalment due under the contract, the sellers … Continue Reading
In Caresse Navigation Ltd v Office National d’Electricite (The Channel Ranger) [2013] EWHC 3081 (Comm), the court considered whether a reference in a bill of lading to the incorporation of a charterparty “English law and arbitration” clause should be read as referring to a clause in the relevant charterparty which conferred jurisdiction on the English … Continue Reading
In Gard Marine & Energy Ltd v China National Chartering Co Ltd (The “Ocean Victory”) [2013] EWHC 2199 (Comm), the Claimant Underwriters claimed damages from the Defendant Time Charterers where the vessel was lost on departing Kashima port. Facts Charterers ordered the vessel, a Capesize bulk carrier, to discharge at Kashima. The vessel sought to … Continue Reading
In White Rosebay Shipping SA v Hong Kong Chain Glory Shipping Ltd [2013] EWHC 1335 (Comm), Owners appealed against an arbitration decision stating that they were unable to claim damages from Charterers in respect of the latter’s renunciation of the charter. The Tribunal had found that by allowing the vessel to discharge cargo after Charterers’ … Continue Reading
In Dry Bulk Handy Holding Inc v Fayette International Holdings Ltd (The “Bulk Chile”) [2013] EWCA Civ 184, the court considered whether a shipowner is entitled to demand payment to himself of freight under his bill of lading when that contract stipulates for payment to another party, provided the shipowner makes his demand before the … Continue Reading
London Arbitration 7/13 The Tribunal was required to decide whether the parties to the arbitration had in fact concluded a fixture. At the time they were both interested in doing so, and negotiations took place through an experienced broker who acted as an intermediary. Charterers argued that the broker had actual authority to conclude fixtures … Continue Reading
In Falkonera Shipping Co v Arcadia Energy Pte Ltd (The “Falkonera”), the Court considered issues arising from the Claimant Owners’ withholding of approval to discharge from the chartered VLCC to two other VLCCs by STS transfer. Charter Terms Owners chartered the “FALKONERA”, a VLCC, to the Defendant Charterers on an amended BPVOY4 form. Clause 8.1 … Continue Reading
In Dalmare SpA v Union Maritime Ltd (The “Union Power”), the court was required to decide whether a term as to satisfactory quality was to be implied into an MOA on the Norwegian Saleform 1993. The MOA provided at clause 11 that the vessel was to be “delivered and taken over as she was at … Continue Reading
In Minerva Navigation Inc v Oceana Shipping AG (The “Athena”), the Commercial Court considered the nature of the loss of time which Charterers were required to prove in order to bring the vessel within the off-hire provisions of an amended NYPE 46 charterparty. Clause 15 of the charterparty provided as follows (with amendments from the … Continue Reading
An article by Edward Yang Liu, Legal Assistant at Reed Smith Richards Butler in Hong Kong, commenting on Isabella Shipowner SA v Shangang Shipping Co Ltd (The “Aquafaith”) (2012) EWHC 1077 (Comm) has been published in Shipping and Trade Law. The article considers the issues examined by the court, in particular whether Owners could refuse … Continue Reading
In Osmium Shipping Corp v Cargill International SA [2012] EWHC 571 (Comm), the Commercial Court considered the grammatical structure and syntax of an off-hire clause in the context of whether seizure of the vessel by pirates constituted an off-hire event. The charterparty was on an amended NYPE 1946 form, and the off-hire clause in question … Continue Reading
Section 4 of the Statute of Frauds 1677 states that a guarantee must be in writing and signed by a person with the requisite authority in order to be enforceable. In Golden Ocean Group Ltd v Salgaocar Mining Industries Pvt Ltd [2012] EWCA Civ 265, the Court of Appeal considered the application of this section … Continue Reading
The Court of Appeal’s judgment in Transpetrol Maritime Services Limited v SJB (Marine Energy) BV (the “Rowan”) [2012] EWCA Civ 198 is interesting in two respects: 1. It considered the meaning of clause 18 of the Vitol terms, which provides under the heading “Oil Company Approvals Clauses” that “Owner warrants that the Vessel is approved … Continue Reading
The Commercial Court has considered the true construction and implementation of the CONWARTIME 1993 clause in a time charter on the NYPE form (Pacific Basin IHX Limited v Bulkhandling Handymax AS [2011] EWHC 2862 (Comm)). The “TRITON LARK” was instructed to carry a cargo from Hamburg to China, via Suez and the Gulf of Aden. … Continue Reading
