Author: Brendan Hoffman

Archive / U.S. Maritime Cases

Star Tankers, Inc. v. Chevron Marine Ltd. (The “SN Federica”) – SMA No. 4289, 23 Sep 2016

ASBATANKVOY - DEMURRAGE - NOR VALIDITY - EXPEDITE INSPECTION - SUBSTANTIAL READINESS – “ROOT CAUSE” PRINCIPLE Nearly 38 days after the tender of NOR, charterer inspected and subsequently directed the vessel to repair its anchor chain prior to berthing. The repair took 3 days. Charterer subsequently claimed that as the vessel was not ready the NOR was invalid with the 38 days for Owner’s account.
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Archive / Maritime Articles

BPVOY5 Has Arrived…

As of 21 March 2016, BP Shipping Ltd. has released BPVOY5; the long-awaited successor to the 1998 BPVOY4 charter party. There have been quite a few changes made to the 18-year-old boilerplate. Most of these changes, however, are essentially updates to outdated language and none seem to be especially onerous. Here are a few that stuck out to us (both inside demurrage and out).
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Archive / English Maritime Cases

London Arbitration 17/15

NYPE – TIME CHARTER – IFO HS RE-DELIVERY VALUE This arbitration award dealt with six issues yet only one is pertinent to TANKVOYager.  Specifically, after the completion of the voyage, the Vessel was redelivered to the Owner with 272 MT IFO HS that the Charterer had purchased.  The Charterer argued that they should be reimbursed for the bunkers at the charter party rate whereas the Owner claimed the bunkers should be priced at the market rate at the redelivery location. [dropcap]P[/dropcap]rior to redelivery the master had requested 450 MT of IFO HS, and although questioning whether this was too much, Charterer...
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Archive / English Maritime Cases

Freight Connect (S) Pte Ltd v. Paragon Shipping Pte Ltd.- SGCA (Singapore Court of Appeal), 31 July 2015

GENCON - BERTH OR PORT CHARTER PARTY- VALIDITY OF NOTICE OF READINESS- DETENTION- INDEMNITY When owner’s vessel was due to be late, a replacement vessel was provided by owner and agreed to by charterer. The panel was tasked with determining whether the replacement vessel was just that or whether a new fixture had been agreed to, whether this new fixture was a port charter or a berth charter, and when the vessel was considered to be an arrived ship. Additionally, claims for detention and indemnity were addressed.
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Archive / U.S. Maritime Cases

Trammochem Asia Pte Ltd. and Trammochem AG v. Desert Orchid Shipping Pte Ltd. (The “LPG/Desert Orchid”) – SMA No. 4253, 10 April 2015

ASBATANKVOY – STS TRANSFER - CONTAMINATED CARGO – HAGUE VISBY & COGSA - BURDEN OF PROOF – DEMURRAGE - FAULT OF THE VESSEL - TIME-BAR – Charterer Award The vessel was loading LPG via a ship-to-ship transfer when it was discovered that the cargo she had loaded was contaminated by moisture. Both the charterer and the owner held each other responsible for the burden of proof. The dispute was over who was liable for the damages due to the contamination and if demurrage, detention and deviation were to be incurred. And if incurred, whether owner’s claims for same were time-barred.
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Archive / English Maritime Cases

London Arbitration 13/15

SHELLVOY 5 – PUMP WARRANTY – PERFORMANCE OR CAPABILITY – PUNITIVE - DEMURRAGE – Owner award This dispute revolved around whether the pump warranty was breached during the discharge of crude oil. The owner submitted its demurrage claim with the belief that the pump warranty had been met. Charterer however contended that the vessel had not met its requirements and thus excess pump time should be deducted from time counting.
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Archive / English Maritime Cases

London Arbitration 14/15

GENCON 76 - DUNNAGE: OWNER’S OR CHARTERER’S RESPONSIBILITY - NOTICE OF READINESS - COMMENCEMENT OF LAYTIME - DEMURRAGE - DETENTION - Charterer award A cargo of steel H-beams were to be loaded on top of a previously loaded part cargo of rebar. Charterer and Owner could not agree as to which party should be responsible for costs and time associated with building a false deck, whether the vessel’s NOR was valid, and thus when laytime commenced counting.
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Archive / English Maritime Cases

Louis Dreyfus Commodities Suisse SA v. MT Maritime Management BV (The “MTM Hong Kong”) – QBD (Comm Ct) , 1 September 2015

REPUDIATED VOYAGE CHARTER - SMITH v M’GUIRE - THE COMPENSATORY PRINCIPLE - Owner award When the charterer wrongfully repudiated a voyage charter, an arbitration panel awarded owner damages basis the vessel’s actual earnings versus hypothetical earnings up to the conclusion of the mitigating employment despite the mitigating employment ending well after when the repudiated voyage charter would have concluded. In doing so, the arbitrators awarded owner for its losses suffered whilst returning to an area of more profitable employment. The charterer appealed.
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Archive / U.S. Maritime Cases

NS United Kaiun Kaisha Ltd. (Daishin Maru) v. Cogent Fibre Inc. – SMA 4249 23 Jan 2015

CONSECUTIVE VOYAGE CHARTER – VESSEL DRY DOCKED WITHOUT MUTUAL AGREEMENT - IN TURN CARGO NOT PROVIDED – MATERIAL & REPUDIATORY BREACH – Owner Award Charterer claimed owner’s dry docking of the Vessel without obtaining mutual agreement for same equated to a material and repudiatory breach of the contract and subsequently refused to provide a cargo or assurances for the continuance of the charter. After waiting 66 days for the cargo and assurances owner canceled the charter and claimed for damages.
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