London Arbitration 11/24

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The vessel was chartered under ANVOY (amended Synacomex 90) form for a single voyage transporting wheat between Russia and Brazil. Owners claimed demurrage of US$48,093.75 for time spent awaiting customs clearance over the weekend.  Charterers denied liability, claiming this time was exempt from laytime, and filed a counterclaim of US$40,208.33.

Voyage Details

The afternoon of Fri. Oct. 28, the vessel berthed and tendered a notice of readiness for cargo loading. Operations were complete at 21:40 on Sat. Oct. 29. On 11:55 Sun. Oct. 30, cargo documents were taken aboard, but did not include the phytosanitary certificate. This certificate was not brought onboard the vessel until 02:10 on Nov. 4. Owners claimed adverse weather conditions delayed the delivery of the certificate to the vessel. Charterers claimed that the phytosanitary certificate could not be obtained, nor could the vessel clear customs until the owners issued and released bills of lading (BOLs).

Bills of lading were signed at 21:00 Oct. 31. The phytosanitary certificate was issued and the cargo cleared at 16:40 Nov. 1. The delay to issue BOLs arose from a cargo discrepancy of 135 tons of wheat between the shore and ship’s figures. This was ultimately resolved in favor of the shore’s figure. There was no suggestion that the master had been unreasonable or in breach of his obligations.

Claims

Owners claimed the following:

  • Loading completed at 21:40 on Oct. 29.
  • Charterparty provision granting a three-hour grace period to Charterers for documents expired 00:40 on Oct. 30.
  • Time counted between 00:40 Oct. 30 – 02:10 Nov. 4 was 121.5 hours, resulting in 40.5 hours of demurrage.

Charterers argued the following:

  • Time between 17:00 Fri. and 08:00 Monday could not be counted.
    • The three-hour grace period for documents was null on Sat. Oct. 29, as Saturdays are excluded from laytime, thus laytime began at 08:00 on Oct. 31.
    • Bills of Lading were signed at 21:00 Oct. 31, so the three-hour grace period for documents could not be enacted until then.
  • Laytime should be calculated from 24:00 Oct. 31 – 16.40 Nov. 1., when the phytosanitary certificate was issued and the cargo cleared.
  • Claimed despatch for 2.68056 days.

Charterparty Clauses

The fixture recap included the following:

8.LOADING AND DISCHARGING TERMS:

LOADING:  LOAD RATE: 8000 MTONS PER WWD OF 24 CONSEC HRS SSHEX FRI5MON8 EIU
TIME NOT TO COUNT FROM 1700 HRS FRIDAYS TO 0800 HRS MONDAY … EVEN IF USED…

9.TIME COUNTING AT LOAD/DISCH:

LOADING –  LAYTIME SHALL COMMENCE AT 0800 HRS THE NEXT WORKING DAY AFTER PRESENTATION OF VALID N.O.R., IF NOTICE TENDERED DURING THE OFFICIAL WORKING HOURS OF THE PORT FRI7/MON8 ALWAYS EXCL EIU …
TIME TO STOP COUNTING UPON COMPLETION OF LOADING

CHRTRS HAVE 3 HOURS FREE TIME AFTER COMPLETION OF LOADING FOR SIGNING AND BRINGING CARGO DOCS (INCL PHYTO CERT) ON BOARD. ALL TIME LOST FROM COMPLETION OF LOADING UNTIL CARGO CLEARED FROM THE CUSTOMS AND DOCS BROUGHT ON BOARD (EXCEPT MENTIONED 3 HOURS) TO COUNT IN FULL WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS AND TO BE ADDED TO TIME USED AS LAYTIME…”

12.DEMURRAGE/DESPATCH:

USD 30,000 PDPR/HDLTSBENDS

ONCE ON DEMM ALWAYS ON DEMM CLS TO APPLY BENDS”

Decision

The arbitrators held that the provisions of the charterparty were clear. Thus, laytime under the “standard” laytime provisions in the fixture was not to count before 08.00 on Monday; however, Clause 9 stated “ALL TIME LOST FROM COMPLETION OF LOADING …”,  plus the earlier document allowance (“CHRTRS HAVE 3 HOURS FREE …”) also had to be applied to laytime.  Owners’ argument that time from 00:40 Oct 31 counted “IN FULL WITHOUT ANY EXCEPTIONS” was upheld by the tribunal.  Charterers’ argument failed to give full consideration to the complete charterparty clauses / agreement.

Award

Owner’s claim of US$48,093.75 succeeded. Charterers’ counterclaim was fully dismissed. Charterers were ordered to pay US$48,093.75, plus interest, and Owners’ costs.