In Freight Connect (S) Pte Ltd v Paragon Shipping PTE Ltd [2016] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 184, the Singapore Court of Appeal has recently considered whether owners can recover for time waiting at berth under a voyage charter. A berth charter was initially concluded but due to delays the charterers requested a replacement vessel be provided. The owners offered a replacement fixture which was accepted. The fixture was a port charter with a time lost clause. The vessel suffered delays in berthing at the loading port. The charterers contended that laytime did not start as NOR could not be given until the vessel berthed and that the time lost clause was inoperative until a valid NOR had been given. The Court of Appeal in Singapore has upheld the decision of the High Court in rejecting both arguments. The second charter was clearly a port charter and in any event the time lost clause operated independently of whether a valid NOR had been given.
Port or berth charter? Effect of ‘time lost’ provision.
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Professor Simon Baughen
Professor Simon Baughen was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law in September 2013 (previously Reader at the University of Bristol Law School). Simon Baughen studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. His research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include the law of trusts and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world. Simon's book on Shipping Law, has run to seven editions (soon to be eight) and is already well-known to academics and students alike as by far the most learned and approachable work on the subject. Furthermore, he is now the author of the very well-established practitioner's work Summerskill on Laytime. He has an extensive list of publications to his name, including International Trade and the Protection of the Environment, and Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs - Closing the Governance Gap. He has also written and taught extensively on commercial law, trusts and environmental law. Simon is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, a University Research Centre within the School of Law, and he currently teaches at Swansea on the LLM in:Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air; Charterparties Law and Practice; International Corporate Governance. View all posts by Professor Simon Baughen