On 15 December 2018, while under time charter to Navision the “Mookda Naree” was arrested at Conakry in respect of a claim against sub-sub charterers Cerealis, and remained under arrest for nearly a month. The claim related to an alleged shortage claim against them by SMG in respect of cargo discharged at Conakry from a previous, unrelated vessel. The head charter and the sub-charter were time charters on the Asbatime form with additional clauses. In both cases, additional clause 47 put the ship off hire inter alia upon her being detained or arrested by any legal process, until the time of her release, “unless such … detention or arrest [was] occasioned by any act, omission or default of the Charterers and/or sub-Charterers and/or their servants or their Agents.” Additional clause 86 of the head charter, not included in the sub-charter, provided as follows:
“Trading Exclusions
…
When trading to West African ports Charterers to provide adequate security guards during port stays in these countries to protect the vessel her crew and cargo.
When trading to West African ports Charterers to accept responsibility for cargo claims from third parties in these countries (except those arising from unseaworthiness of vessel) including putting up security, if necessary, to prevent arrest/detention of the vessel or to release the vessel from arrest or detention and vessel to remain on hire.
…”
By cl.43 the Inter-Club Agreement was incorporated into the head charter.
Owners claimed that the vessel never went off-hire and that Navision was liable in damages for breach of cl.86. It was common ground that in the context of both time charters, Cerealis was a “sub-Charterer” within the clause 47 proviso.
The tribunal heard separate references by the sub charterer against the time charterer, and by the time charterer against the owners. They held that the clause 47 proviso applied, so that the vessel was not off hire after 12:00 hrs on 17 December 2018, because by that time her detention under arrest thereafter was occasioned by Cerealis’ failure promptly to deal with or secure SMG’s claim so as to procure her release.
In the head charter reference, the arbitrators held that the second paragraph of cl.86 applied, and was not limited to claims concerning cargo carried under the head charter. Therefore, the vessel was off -hire for the entire period under arrest.
On appeals by sub-charterers and time charteres against the awards, Andrew Baker J held, [2021] EWHC 558 (Comm) 10.3.21, that the tribunal had correctly concluded that the detention of “Mookda Naree” after 12:00 hrs on 17 December 2018 was occasioned by Cerealis’ failure to act. It ought reasonably to have acted to deal promptly with the claim being made against it by SMG, that being an “act or omission or default of … sub-Charterers” within the meaning of the proviso to clause 47 of both charters. As regards s.86 under the head charter which concerned the award of hire up to 12,00 on 17 December 2018 it was clear that clause 86 was intended to create a different regime to that generally applicable by reason of clause 47. The vessel never went off-hire during the period of the arrest.
The arbitrators had erred in their construction of clause 86 and should have said that SMG’s claim, though it related to a cargo that had been carried to a West African port, was not a cargo claim within clause 86 of the charter between the Owner and Navision because it did not concern “Mookda Naree’s” West African trading pursuant to that charter but a different ship altogether. It was therefore not a claim allocated to be Navision’s full responsibility by clause 86, any more than it would have been a claim to be dealt with under the Inter-Club Agreement pursuant to clause 43 in the absence of clause 86. Navision’s appeal against the award in the head charter reference succeeded to the extent that because the arbitrators misconstrued clause 86 they wrongly held that the ship never went off hire, whereas they should have held that when arrested she went off hire under clause 47 until the proviso bit from 12:00 hrs on 17 December 2018. They had also wrongly held that Navision had a liability for damages to be assessed for breach of clause 86.
