London Arbitration 9/94

Charterers alleged that ship’s gear was incapable of discharging cargo at proper rate and refused to discharge balance of cargo - Ship’s crew discharged balance of cargo using ship’s gear - Whether shipowners entitled to recover cost of additional payments to crew

The vessel was chartered under the NYPE form for a trip from the US Gulf to the Mediterranean carrying a cargo of bulk petcoke. Problems arose from the rate at which the ship was discharged. The charterers complained that the ship’s gear was incapable of discharging at a proper rate. [It was subsequently held in arbitration proceedings that the owners were not in breach of charter.] After discharging about 5,000 tons the ship was taken off the berth for a time. When she returned, the charterers refused to discharge further with their stevedores. In the result, the crew discharged, using the ship’s gear.