UK Defence Club Soundings: A Question of Class

In the case of Silverburn Shipping (IoM) Ltd v Ark Shipping Company LLC (M.V. "Arctic") [2019] EWHC 374 (Comm), the High Court held that the owner was entitled to terminate a bareboat charter where the charterer had failed to maintain the ship's class for a short period of time while the ship was in dry dock.

The case provides clarification that a charterer's obligation to keep a ship in class under a Barecon charter is an absolute obligation and a condition of the contract. It also provides a warning of the importance of maintaining class under a bareboat charter at all times and the potentially drastic consequences of failing to do so.

Continue reading in the latest Soundings from UK Defence Club.

Learn more about this and other cases by visiting the 'Insights' section of the UK Defence Club's website.

Staff Author

Thomas Miller Group

Date16/04/2019

Tags

You may also be interested in:

The recent High Court judgment in the MV Arctic highlights the importance of maintaining class at all times under a bareboat charter. Read more in UK Defence Club's April Sounding

The London Maritime Arbitrators Association ('LMAA') has recently published a 'LMAA Arbitration Clause' and a 'LMAA Arbitration Notice Clause'. Given the potential importance of issues relating to jurisdiction, these are worth considering.

In the third installment of UK Defence Club's Sulphur Series they look at bunker pricing issues and the potential impact on voyage charters.

In this edition of UK Defence Club's "Sulphur Series", the Club looks in more detail at the practical steps that will need to be taken in order to prepare ships without scrubbers for the switchover to low sulphur fuel on 1st January, 2020. The Club also considers how the allocation of responsibilities and costs related to such steps might be dealt with contractually.