A contractual view on piracy

The recent escalation of piracy attacks in the Gulf of Aden and neighbouring seas raises some interesting questions on contractual rights and obligations under charterparties. This article will examine some contractual aspects relating to piracy.

Anna Wollin Ellevsen, documentary affairs officer, BIMCO

BIMCO’s war risks clauses

While BIMCO’s war risks clauses have taken piracy into account since 1950 (see BALTIME 1939, the 1950 edition) many other war risks clauses on the market do not. The current editions of BIMCO’s war risks clauses for use in voyage and time charterparties are VOYWAR 2004 and CONWARTIME 2004. These are designed as a contractual ‘code’ that provides the owners with specific rights under defined ‘war risk’ circumstances to meet their contractual obligations in ways different than contemplated by the charterparty. In short, the war risks clauses provide that, without the express consent from the owners, the vessel should not be ordered to an area where, in the reasonable judgement of the master or owner, it may be exposed to, inter alia, piracy.