Category: Carriage of Goods

Misdelivery by the carrier after discharge and the Article III Rule 6 time bar: the ‘Alhani gap’ is filled

FIMBank p.l.c. v KCH Shipping Co., Ltd [2022] EWHC 2400 (Comm)

The Commercial Court (Sir William Blair) has recently handed down judgment in FIMBank p.l.c. v KCH Shipping Co., Ltd, an appeal under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996, holding that the time bar in Article III rule 6 of the Hague-Visby Rules can apply to claims in relation to misdelivery after discharge. The Court’s decision resolves an important question which had not previously been decided by the English courts, and which has divided leading academic commentators as well as judges in other common law jurisdictions.

Background

The appeal relates to a claim brought by FIMBank p.l.c. (“FIMBank”), as the holder of bills of lading, for the alleged misdelivery of cargo by the contractual carrier, KCH Shipping Co., Ltd (“KCH”). The bills were concluded on the Congenbill form, and were subject to the Hague-Visby Rules, including the time bar in Article III r 6 of one year after delivery which applies to claims against carriers.

FIMBank served a Notice of Arbitration on KCH after that time bar expired. Its position was that its claim was nevertheless not caught by the time bar, contending that: (a) on the facts, delivery took place after discharge; and (b) as a matter of law, the time bar did not apply to claims for misdelivery occurring after discharge. In its submission, this was so given that the Hague-Visby Rules do not regulate a carrier’s obligation to deliver cargo (as opposed to the carriage of goods by sea), and only relate to a ‘period of responsibility’ which ends with the discharge of cargo. FIMBank further argued that the parties had, in any event, contractually disapplied the Rules in respect of the period after discharge, insofar as Clause 2(c) of the Congenbill form provided: “The Carrier shall in no case be responsible for loss and damage to the cargo, howsoever arising prior to loading into and after discharge from the Vessel …”.

In an Award on preliminary issues, the arbitral tribunal determined that FIMBank’s claim was time-barred irrespective of whether delivery post-dated discharge on the facts (which remained a matter in dispute). This was because: (i) the Hague[1]Visby Rules time bar can apply to claims relating to misdelivery occurring after discharge; and (ii) Clause 2(c) of the Congenbill form does not disapply the Rules in respect of the period after discharge.

The Court’s reasoning

The Court upheld the tribunal’s decision on both questions, and accordingly dismissed the appeal.

On the first question, it concluded that, on its true construction, Article III r 6 of the Hague-Visby Rules applies to claims for misdelivery of cargo after discharge. The Court noted that this conclusion avoided the need for fine distinctions as to the point at which discharge ended, and accorded with the objective of the rule which was intended to achieve finality and to enable the shipowner to clear its books. It further observed that, although certain common law authorities and commentaries might be said to support the construction of Article III r 6 for which FIMBank contended (including Carver on Charterparties and Voyage Charters), there was no international judicial or academic consensus to that effect.

The Court held that, even if its conclusion above was wrong, the tribunal’s decision was in any event justified by its finding that the bills of lading contained an implied term providing that the Hague-Visby Rules obligations and immunities are to continue after actual discharge and until delivery takes place, in line with the reasoning of the Court of Appeal in The MSC Amsterdam [2007] EWCA Civ 794.

On the second question, the Court held that, on a proper construction, Clause 2(c) did not disapply the Hague-Visby Rules to the period after discharge. Although FIMBank relied in this regard on The MSC Amsterdam, in which the express terms of the bill of lading concerned were held to have disapplied the Hague Rules after discharge, the Judge held that that decision did not warrant a different result, insofar as it featured a bill of lading with materially distinguishable terms.

Simon Rainey K.C. of Quadrant Chambers and Matthew Chan of Twenty Essex acted for KCH, instructed by Kyri Evagora and Thor Maalouf of Reed Smith LLP














Closing the gap.  Hague Rules time bars and misdelivery claims.

In The Alhani [2018] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 563 the Hague Rules one year time limit was held to apply to a misdelivery claim, where delivery was made on discharge within the ‘tackle to tackle period’. This left an open question as to whether the one year time limit would apply when delivery was made after discharge from the vessel. This question has now been answered by Sir William Blair (Sitting as a High Court Judge) in FIMBank PLC v KCH Shipping Co., Ltd [2022] EWHC 2400 (Comm). The case arose out of a misdelivery after discharge under a bill of lading on Congenbill form. The Tribunal, comprising three leading maritime arbitrators,  Julia Dias QC, Sir Bernard Eder and Timothy Young QC, found that: (i) the Hague-Visby Rules time bar can in principle apply to claims relating to misdelivery occurring after discharge; and (ii) Clause 2(c) of the Congenbill form did not disapply the Hague-Visby Rules time bar to the period after discharge. On a s.69 appeal, two questions were posed.

i) Whether Art.III, r.6 of the Hague-Visby Rules applies to claims for misdelivery of cargo after discharge (the “first question”);

ii) Whether clause 2(c) of the Congenbill form disapplies the Hague-Visby Rules to the period after discharge (the “second question”).

The clause reads. “The Carrier shall in no case be responsible for loss and damage to the cargo, howsoever arising prior to loading into and after discharge from the Vessel of [which must mean “or”] while the cargo is the charge of another Carrier, nor in respect of deck cargo or live animals.”

Sir William Blair upheld the finding of the tribunal, giving a positive answer to the first question, and a negative answer to the second.

On the question of the applicability of the timebar to claims for misdelivery of cargo after discharge, he found the tribunal had correctly decided that on its true construction Art.III, r.6 of the Hague-Visby Rules, which includes the time bar but is concerned with delivery in a broader context, applies to claims for misdelivery of cargo after discharge.  This conclusion avoids the necessity for fine distinctions as to the point at which discharge ends. It is also consistent with the authoritative statement of the objective of the article by Bingham LJ in The Captain Gregos ([1990] 1 Lloyd’s Rep. 310 at p.315 (col 2)) that it is, “like any time bar, intended to achieve finality and, in this case, enable the ship owner to clear his books”. In addition there no consensus to be shown among the courts of other jurisdictions, nor in the commentary.

Additionally, the application of the time limit to a misdelivery after discharge could be supported by the implication of a term as argued by Carver on Bills of Lading, Sir Guenter Treitel and Professor Francis Reynolds, 4th ed (2017) at [9-130] which states that the Rules may appear on their face to cease operation on discharge, but that consignees will normally collect them after some period of storage. The carriage contract arguably continues, and that under English law the carrier still holds the goods under the contract of carriage and under the Rules, unless it alters its responsibility for this stage by a term in the contract of carriage.

On the second question, the effect of cl.2(c) of the CONGENBILL, Sir William Blair upheld the tribunal’s conclusion that the clause did not disapply the Hague-Visby Rules to the period after discharge. The clause made no reference to any Hague-Visby Rules period. By contrast, the clause in The MSC Amsterdam [2007] EWCA Civ 794, [2007] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 622 was materially different in that its reference to loss “after the end of the Hague Rules period” showed that there was to be a period when the Hague Rules did not apply but would be be a time when the Owners may still have the obligations of a bailee in respect of the goods, and can agree that the terms of that bailment are not to be those of the Hague Rules.

Coming soon? Legal Equivalence for Electronic Trade Documents in England and Wales. 

Spain got one in 2014[1], Singapore in 2020[2], and now it seems England and Wales are going to get one in the next year  – a law on the functional legal equivalence of electronic bills of lading, and other trade documents, to their paper counterparts.

On 16 March 2022 the Law Commission of England and Wales issued its report on Electronic Trade Documents, LC 405, which proposed a draft, six clause, bill, the Electronic Trade Documents bill creating functional equivalence for electronic trade documents with their paper equivalents.  In May 2022 the government included the Electronic Trade Documents Bill in the Queen’s Speech in May 2022 setting out its legislative programme for 2022-23 session of Parliament and there is a good prospect of it becoming law in the next year.

The bill operates as follows.

Clause 1 defines the relevant paper documents as “…any paper document used in trade to which possession is relevant (as a matter of law or commercial practice) for a person to claim performance of an obligation, regardless of its precise legal nature.” The bill then lists examples of specific paper documents, including the bill of lading, that would constitute paper trade documents.  

Amenability to exclusive control is a necessary criterion for an electronic equivalent to these paper trade document so as to qualify as an electronic trade document and the transfer of an electronic trade document must necessarily entail a transfer both of the document and of the ability to control the document. This is set out in the next clause.

Clause 2 provides that Electronic equivalents of those documents would be ‘qualifying electronic documents’ and would become “electronic trade documents” if

“ a reliable system is used to—

(a) identify the document so that it can be distinguished from any copies,

(b) protect the document against unauthorised alteration,

 (c) secure that it is not possible for more than one person to exercise control of the document at any one time,

(d) allow any person who is able to exercise control of the document to demonstrate that the person is able to do so, and

(e) secure that a transfer of the document has effect to deprive any person who was able to exercise control of the document immediately before the transfer of the ability to do so (except to the extent that the person is able to exercise control by virtue of being a transferee).”

Clause 3 provides for full legal equivalence between electronic trade documents and paper trade documents, as follows:

(1) A person may possess, indorse and part with possession of an electronic trade document.

(2) An electronic trade document has the same effect as the equivalent paper trade document.

(3) Anything done in relation to an electronic trade document that corresponds to anything that could be done in relation to the equivalent paper trade document has the same effect in relation to the electronic trade document as it would have in relation to the paper trade document.

Legal equivalence will mean that the electronic bill of lading can operate as a document of title, and will constitute a bill of lading for the purposes of COGSA 1992 and COGSA 1971.

Clause 4 provides for change of form from paper document to electronic document, and vice versa.

Clause 5 provides for a list of excluded documents, currently (a) a bearer bond; (b) an uncertificated unit of a security that is transferable by means of a relevant system in accordance with the Uncertificated Securities Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/3755). The Secretary of State is empowered to add to, remove, or amend the list by statutory instrument.

Clause 6 provides for consequential amendments with the repeal of Sections 1(5) and 1(6) of COGSA 1992 and the insertion of “or to a bill or note that is an electronic trade document for the purposes of the Electronic Trade Documents Act 2022 (see section 2 of that Act)” at the end of section 89B(2) of the Bills of Exchange Act 1882 (instruments to which section 89A applies).

The Act extends to England and Wales only, comes into force at the end of the period of two months beginning with the day on which it is passed and does not apply to a document issued before the day on which the Act comes into force.

The bill is likely to prove uncontroversial, but will come up against 57 other legislative items fighting for space in the 22-23 session of Parliament. One hopes it makes it through.

[1] Under arts 262-266 of the Maritime Navigation Act 14/2014

[2] Under the Electronic Transactions (Amendment) Act setting out a legislative framework for Electronic Transferable Records (ETRs) based on the Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records (MLETR).]

Breaking limitation under the CMR?

The owner of two extremely valuable cars, a Mercedes Benz CLK GTR 97 and a 1948 Talbot-Lago T26 GS Franay Cabriolet claimed damages from the carrier, CARS, after they were damaged while in its possession. The carrier CARS was engaged through Peter Auto, a French events management company, to transport the two cars from the premises of their owner, Mr Knapfield, in Beaconsfield to the Chantilly Arts & Elegance Richard Mille Concours d’Etat (“Chantilly”), north of Paris, and back again after the event. During the return journey both cars were damaged when the Talbot – which had been stowed forward of the CLK 97 –  slipped backwards into the CLK 97, due to the front wheel straps attached to the Talbot becoming free, as a result of inadequate securing of its front wheel straps.

The central issue in Knapfield v CARS Holdings Ltd Company (No. 05481676) & Ors [2022] EWHC 1437 (Comm) (13 June 2022). was whether the owner’s damages were limited by the Carriage of Goods by Road Act 1965 which incorporates the CMR Convention (“CMR”).  The Convention’s provisions have the force of law “so far as they relate to the rights and liabilities of persons concerned in the carriage of goods by road under a contract to which the Convention applies” (s1) and a person concerned in the carriage of goods by road includes a consignee (s14(2)(b)). Under CMR the carrier’s liability would be limited to SDR 23,490.60, about $20,000, considerably lower than the diminution in value claimed by the owner of the two cars.

The CMR applied because there was a contract for the carriage of goods for the vehicles by road in the Transporter for reward, and because CARS took over the vehicles in France for carriage to the United Kingdom. The owner of the cars was not a party to that contract, but CMR applied because he was the consignee.  The failure of CARS to issue a consignment note did not affect the applicability of CMR due to article 4 which provides “The contract of carriage shall be confirmed by the making out of a consignment note. The absence, irregularity or loss of the consignment note shall not affect the existence or the validity of the contract of carriage which shall remain subject to the provisions of this Convention.” There was nothing in CMR which expressly placed the burden of issuing the consignment note on the carrier so that a claim for breach of contract could be made against the carrier for failure so to do.

The owner’s case was that the liability of CARS was not limited by CMR, due to three exceptions, all of which were rejected by Charles Hollander QC, acting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court:

a. Where the sender declares in the consignment note a value for the goods (Article 24 CMR).

The owner was not a party to the contract of carriage and was not the sender, who was the party that needed to make such declaration. Any discussion between the owner and the sender about the value of the vehicles, which was disputed, was oral and was not declared in the consignment note, as there was no consignment note. Any declaration of value needed to have been made with the agreement of CARS as the carrier and be evidenced in writing. There was no such agreement here.

b. Where the sender fixes the amount of a special interest in delivery in the consignment note (Article 26 CMR).

This argument failed for the same reasons as the Article 24 argument, with the additional reason being that “special interest” must provide for loss or damage which is not provided for in Articles 23, 24 and 25, such as consequential loss.

c. Where the damage was caused by the wilful misconduct of the carrier or its servants or agents (Article 29 CMR).

To establish wilful misconduct on the part of the carrier or its servants and agents, the Claimant needed to prove that:

a. There must have been misconduct.

b. The carrier, employee or agent either (a) must have committed the misconduct deliberately knowing that the conduct was wrongful, regardless of the consequences, or (b) must have committed the misconduct deliberately with reckless indifference as to whether what he or she was doing was right or wrong, where such misconduct was unreasonable in all the circumstances.

c. There must have been an increased real and substantial risk of damage to the goods resulting from such misconduct and the carrier, employee or agent must have been aware of that additional risk.

Such misconduct was not made good by negligence or even gross negligence. The case of wilful misconduct was based on the combination of an unjustified failure by CARS’ driver, Mr Constantinou, to follow instructions given by the owner to him and the use of an unsafe method of securing the Vehicles in circumstances. Responsibility and expertise in carrying the Vehicles lay with CARS rather than the owner and whilst a failure to do what the owner had proposed or advised might be evidence of deliberate or reckless conduct, it would not be a breach of any obligation to fail to follow the owner’s instructions,

The cause of the damage was the failure of Mr Constantinou properly to secure the front over-the-wheel straps on the Talbot on the return journey, so that in the course of that journey they worked loose. Although that failure could readily be described as negligent, perhaps even grossly negligent, there was no reason to think it was reckless, still less deliberate. Although Mr Constantinou had failed to follow company policy to use chocks were possible, there was a legitimate explanation for this – he did not do so because the Transporter had forward wheel wells sunk into the deck, and the Talbot was driven into the wells, which had already acted as chocks. Significantly, that method for transportation was the same as been used for the carriage to Chantilly without incident, which went against any suggestion that the method of carriage was reckless.

The owner also claimed by way of damages for misrepresentation under s2(1) of the Misrepresentation Act 1967, and by way of an alleged contract with CARS  whereby it agreed to reimburse him for the damage which had occurred in full, that contract being separate to CMR. The Misrepresentation claim could not succeed as this claim could not succeed because the misrepresentation would have been made to someone who was neither a contracting party or their agent. The claim based on the reimbursement contract could not succeed as there was no consideration for CARS’ promise, and if there were to be an enforceable promise to surrender the right to rely on the statutory limit of liability under CMR, there would have to have been express reference to the right to limit. Without such a reference, the promise would not be clear and unequivocal, which is a requirement for a contractual surrender of such rights of limitation.

Deductions from Charter Hire Made in Good Faith and on Reasonable Grounds?

London Arbitration 1/22

Disputes often arise in time charters on whether any deduction from charter hire can be made especially when there is an alleged underperformance of the chartered vessel.

It is well established principle of law that if a deduction is made from hire, such deduction must be made in good faith and be based on reasonable grounds (otherwise such deduction amounts to breach of contract on the part of the charterer). This effectively means that in case of a deduction for underperformance of the chartered vessel, the charterer might be called upon at short notice to demonstrate that its deductions were made bona fidei and its calculations were based in reasonable grounds (The Kostas Melas [1981] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 18).

This was the central issue in this dispute. The charterers withheld US$ 53,550.40 gross in respect of what they claimed was time loss due to underperformance to the extent of 6.6938 days (off-hire).

When the tribunal asked the charterers to demonstrate a prima facie case as to whether the deduction from hire was made bona fidei and on reasonable grounds, they responded with a report of weather routing company they appointed, some further comments from that company and the fact that the owners did not appoint their own weather routing company.

The tribunal found that charterers failed to address the question of good faith nor had they made any attempt to show that they had a claim for off hire. It was also noted by the tribunal that the charterers did not address the point made by the owners that there was no speed/consumption warranty in the charterparty as the fixture description of the ship was qualified by the words “all details about/in good faith”.

The tribunal here was simply deciding that the charterers had not shown that their deduction was made in good faith and on reasonable grounds so they were wrong to withheld the deduction from hire. It is theoretically open to charterers to claim that there was an underperformance of the chartered vessel but as hinted by the tribunal, based on the wording in the charterparty qualifying the performance of the vessel, it will be an uphill struggle to prove the existence of a speed/consumption warranty and the fact that it was breached!        

 

A classic problem returns – bills of lading, charterparties and the terms of the contract of carriage

As any shipping lawyer will tell you, the law is not at its tidiest when a bill of lading ends up in the hands of a voyage charterer. Yesterday’s decision in Unicredit AG v Euronav NV [2022] EWHC 957 (Comm) adds a further chapter to the saga, which may be more tendentious than it looks.

The case arose out of the insolvency and suspected fraud of Indian oil trader GP (Gulf Petrochem FZC, now a restructured GP Global, not to be confused with oil major Gulf Oil). BP chartered the 150,000-ton Suezmax Sienna from her owners Euronav and agreed to sell her cargo to GP. GP financed the deal through Unicredit, under an arrangement whereby Gulf agreed to pledge and assign to Unicredit all rights in cargoes and rights arising under bills of lading, and agreed that it would resell the cargo to buyers who would pay Unicredit direct.

A bill of lading was issued by Euronav to BP. On the sale, Unicredit paid BP on GP’s behalf; but instead of the bill of lading being endorsed to GP, the charter itself was novated, BP dropping out and being supplanted by GP. BP retained the bill of lading, still made out in its favour.

In April 2020, GP sweet-talked Unicredit into condoning a series of STS transfers of the cargo to what seem to have been connected entities, despite the fact that the bill of lading was still in the hands of BP. The sub-buyers never paid Unicredit; at the same time GP showed worrying signs of financial strain. Unicredit now realised that something had gone badly wrong with the deal, with their security and with GP as a whole. It swiftly got BP to endorse the bill of lading to it and tried to salvage the situation by suing Euronav for delivering the cargo without its production.

The claim was unsuccessful. And rightly so. On the evidence it was clear that Unicredit had actually condoned the STS transfers in the knowledge that the bill of lading would not available, and therefore had only itself to blame. With this we have no argument.

But the claim also failed for another reason, which we are less sure about: namely, that the bill of lading in fact never governed the liabilities of Euronav in any case. The reason was this. When the bill was issued to BP, it was uncontroversial that it did not form the contract between the parties, since there was also a charter in force between BP and Euronav, and as between the two the charter prevailed (see Rodocanachi v Milburn (1887) 18 Q.B.D. 67). True, at the time of the STS transfers there was no longer a charter between BP and Euronav because GP had been substituted for BP. But this (it was said) made no difference. Although the bill of lading would have been the governing document had BP endorsed it to GP (Leduc v Ward (1888) 20 Q.B.D. 475), this did not apply where there had been no such transfer. In the present case there was no reason to infer that at that time the document’s status in BP’s hands had been intended to change from that of mere receipt to full contractual document; it therefore remained in the former category.

With respect, it is not entirely clear why this should be the case. For one thing, if a carrier issues a bill of lading to a charterer, arguably the reason why the bill of lading does not form the contract between the parties is simply that one has to choose between two inconsistent contracts, and that the obvious choice is the charter. If so, once the charter drops away as between those parties, there is no reason not to go back to the bill of lading. This seems, if one may say so, rather more convincing than the idea that the carrier is implicitly agreeing that the bill of lading gains contractual force if, and only if, endorsed by the charterer to someone else so as to cause a new contract to spring up. (In this connection it is worth remembering that it is equally possible for a bill of lading that once did have contractual force to cease to have it as a result of transfer to a charterer – see for instance The Dunelmia [1970] 1 Q.B. 289 – despite the fact that in such a case there can be no question of any new contract springing up.)

Put another way, it seems odd that entirely different results should follow according to whether a charterer transfers the bill of lading and retains the charter, or transfers the charter and retains the bill of lading.

There is also a practical point. Suppose that in the Unicredit case the unpaid party had not been Unicredit, but BP. BP might have thought that they were safe in allowing the charter to be novated in favour of GP provided they kept hold of the bill of lading and with it the assurance that the cargo could not reach GP’s hands without their consent. One suspects they would have been somewhat surprised to be told in such a case that the bill of lading was, and remained, of no effect despite the fact that they were no longer charterers of the vessel.

There clearly won’t be an appeal in this case, given the consent of Unicredit to what would otherwise have been a misdelivery. But the bill of lading point will no doubt give academics and others plenty to speculate about in the next editions of Scrutton, Aikens and other works. We await the results with interest.

UNCTAD training course: implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for commercial contracts – International Sale of Goods on Shipment Terms and Carriage of Goods by Sea



IISTL Member, Professor Simon Baughen will be part of a team delivering UNCTAD’s forthcoming four-day virtual training course https://unctad.org/meeting/unctad-training-course-implications-covid-19-pandemic-commercial-contracts-international

The course will focus on the implications of the pandemic for some of the key commercial contracts in international shipping and trade, in particular contracts for the international sale of goods on Shipment Terms CIF and FOB and carriage of goods by sea under charterparties and bills of lading.

Each course consists of four daily sessions (am or pm CEST), covering: international sale of goods on CIF and FOB terms and related payment mechanisms; time and voyage charterparties; specialist standard form ‘pandemics’ clauses and force majeure clauses; bills of lading and related cargo claims, including special considerations applicable in the context of charterparty bills.

The course  will be offered on four occasions, to enable broad participation and accommodate participants in different time-zones.

03 – 06 May:      9:30 – 13:00 CEST – for participants in Asia, Africa, Europe

10 – 13 May:    15:00 – 18:30 CEST – for participants in Americas, Africa, Europe

16 – 19 May:    15:00 – 18:30 CEST – for participants in Americas, Africa, Europe

07 – 10 June:     9:30 – 13:00 CEST – for participants in Asia, Africa, Europe
 

UK bans Russian ships from entry to UK ports

As part of the UK’s sanctions against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Regulations 57 a-i of The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) (Amendment) (No. 4) Regulations 2022 (SI 2022/203) took effect on 1 March 2022. These ban the entry into UK ports of

(a)a ship owned, controlled, chartered or operated by a designated person,

(b)a ship owned, controlled, chartered or operated by persons connected with Russia,

(c)a ship registered in Russia,

(d)a ship flying the flag of Russia, or

(e)a specified ship.

A ship is ‘controlled’ by “a person who is able to take decisions about its operation, including (but not limited to) decisions about the route the ship may take and the appointment of master or crew.

The Secretary of State may direct the UK Ship Registrar to terminate the registration of such ships and to direct harbour authorities to detain Russian ships at ports or anchorages.

The Secretary of State may also specify a ship for the purposes of the entry prohibitions provided the Secretary of State—

(a) has reasonable grounds to suspect that the ship is, has been, or is likely to be, involved in a relevant activity, and

(b) considers that it is appropriate for that ship to be specified, having regard to the purposes stated in regulation 4.

A ship is “involved in a relevant activity” if the ship is used for any activity whose object or effect is to contravene or circumvent, or to enable or facilitate the contravention or circumvention of, any provision of these Regulations.

The prohibition on entry does not, as yet, apply to Russian cargo although there have been incidents where dockers in the UK have refused to unload such cargo.

Canada also closed its port to Russian ships on 1 March. The European Commission has also proposed banning Russian ships from docking at European ports but there is currently opposition to this.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that an estimated 60,000 Russian and Ukrainian sailors are stuck at ports, with Russia providing over 10% of the global workforce for shipping.

Russia’s prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, has said that nations that ban Russian ships from their ports could face retaliation.

IISTL Professor’s UNCTAD Report on “Legal and Practical Implications of Covid-19” Is Out

“CONTRACTS FOR  THE CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA AND MULTIMODAL  TRANSPORT KEY ISSUES ARISING FROM THE IMPACTS  OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMICA” is now available at https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Functad.org%2Fsystem%2Ffiles%2Fofficial-document%2Fdtltlbinf2022d1_en.pdf&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNGYpOUVQNY4G-u7Vkox_kWvDs8Nkw

This is a report for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and was  prepared by  Professor  Simon  Baughen,  with contributions  by  Regina Asariotis  and  Anila  Premti,  Policy  and Legislation  Section,  Trade  Logistics  Branch,  Division  on  Technology  and  Logistics  of  UNCTAD. The report forms  part  of  the  ‘International commercial transport  and  trade  law’  component of the  UN Development Account project (UNDA  2023X)  project on “Transport and trade  connectivity  in the  age  of pandemics”.  

This report examines some  of  the  key legal issues  arising from  the  pandemic  as  they  affect  contracts  for the  carriage  of  goods  by  sea, multimodal  contracts  of  carriage  that  (may)  involve  carriage  by  sea,  as well as voyage  and time  charters.