In this charterparty dispute, the arbitral tribunal rejected the Owners’ claim for damages for breach of the safe port warranty in a time charterparty, after a laden bulk carrier grounded at the entrance to the port of Chaozhou, China, while under compulsory pilotage. It also held that the vessel was unseaworthy, in breach of Article III.1 of the Hague Rules, due to lack of proper charts, but found on the facts that this was not causative of the grounding.
This decision, produced by a specialist LMAA tribunal including two experienced master mariners, provides some useful guidance in unsafe port cases involving pilot error.
Thomas Macey-Dare KC instructed by Martin Dalby and Joshua Thomson of Ince acted for the Charterers. They have co-authored this article:
