Mr Justice Knowles CBE’s judgment in Glencore International AG v (1) PT Tera Logistic Indonesia (2) PT Arpeni Pra [2016] EWHC 82 (Comm) considered whether the wording of a notice of appointment of an arbitrator was sufficient to stop the running of time under section 14(4) Arbitration Act 1996 (“the Act”) in respect of the respondent’s counterclaim.

Section 14(4) of the Act provides that “Where the arbitrator or arbitrators are to be appointed by the parties, arbitral proceedings are commenced in respect of a matter when one party serves on the other party or parties notice in writing requiring him or them to appoint an arbitrator or to agree to the appointment of an arbitrator in respect of that matter.”

In this instance there were four contracts providing that demurrage was payable by either the Charterers (“FC Detention”) or by the Owners (“MV Demurrage”), depending on the cause of the delay.Continue Reading Appointing an arbitrator to protect time for counterclaims