Insights

These Service Guidelines (2023) set out the Club’s expectations as to how Defence matters should be handled by the lawyers instructed on behalf of Members. They reflect the Club’s policy of “no surprises” but also contain...

In the recent case of Fastfreight Pte Ltd v Bulk Trident Shipping Ltd [2023] EWHC 105, the Commercial Court held that where a charterparty contained a clause providing that no deductions were to be made without an...

The separability principle, as set out at section 7 of the Arbitration Act 1996, essentially provides that an arbitration agreement is, or must be treated as, a contract which is separate from the main contract of which it forms part. In DHL Project & Chartering Ltd v Gemini Ocean Shipping Ltd (the “Newcastle Express”) [2022] EWCA Civ 1555 the Court of Appeal considered the application of the separability principle in determining whether there was a binding arbitration agreement where the proposed charterparty recap expressly contained a subject and that subject had not been ‘lifted’. 

The historic doctrines of champerty and maintenance, which essentially prohibit third-party litigation and arbitration funding, have been amended and/or phased out in a number of jurisdictions, including England and Wales.  Hong Kong has recently taken steps to relax its laws by amending the existing legislation to permit contingency based fee arrangements in the majority of arbitration proceedings (except those relating to criminal or family matters).

The CII regulations come into force on 1st January, 2023 and will rate ships A, B, C, D or E on the basis of the intensity of their carbon emissions. The way that a ship is operated (speed, amount of cargo, number of voyages etc) will of course have a large impact on a ship’s carbon intensity, so owners and time charterers have for some time been grappling with how to allocate risk and responsibility for this issue. To assist with the issue, BIMCO has published its CII Operations Clause for Time Charter Parties 2022. The clause is long, some four and half pages, but the basic structure of rights and responsibilities is reasonably clear. However, there remain several outstanding issues, primarily relating to sub-clauses (g) and (i) which we consider further in this insight.