Shipping case digest June 2019

We're delighted to announce the appointment to our LLP board of international partner Jasel Chauhan....

In a judgment handed down on 10 August 2022 (Eastern Pacific Chartering Inc -v- Pola Maritime Ltd [2022] EWHC 2095 (Comm), Ms Clare Ambrose (a prominent maritime arbitrator sitting as a deputy judge of the High Court) provided useful guidance on the approach to performance warranties in charterparties. Parties should take note of this judgment to avoid uncertainty in the event of a performance dispute. 

The ongoing dispute between ALEXANDRA 1 and EVER SMART has been heard by the courts for a fifth time. In this hearing, the judge was required to re-determine matters of apportionment. 

The Singapore Chamber of Maritime Arbitration (SCMA) recently published the fourth edition of its Arbitration Rules. These will come into effect on 1 January 2022 and apply to any SCMA arbitration commenced after that date.

In a judgment handed down on 24 September 2021 (Euronav NV -v- Repsol Trading SA (mt MARIA) [2021] EWHC 2565 (Comm), the High Court provided useful guidance on contractual time-bars involving multiple time zones: in the absence of a contractual provision to the contrary, the date and time when the triggering event took place will be determined on the basis of local time at the place of such event.