Frota Oceanica Brasileira SA v Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association (Bermuda) Ltd (The “Frotanorte”) - Court of Appeal (Nourse, Hirst and Schiemann LJJ) - 30 July 1996

High Court refusing to appoint arbitrator under section 10(1) of Arbitration Act 1950 on grounds of inordinate and inexcusable delay notwithstanding absence of any prejudice to defendants - Whether High Court erred in exercise of discretion

Disputes arose between the plaintiff shipowners and their P & I Club in connection with a collision between the plaintiffs’ vessel Frotanorte and another vessel, the Theopaes , off Puerto Rico in 1978. At first instance, Longmore J declined to exercise his discretion to appoint an arbitrator under section 10(1) of the Arbitration Act 1950 to resolve the dispute on the ground that the delay had been so inordinate and inexcusable that, even in the absence of prejudice, it would be wrong to allow the arbitration to proceed. He had based his decision on delay between 1991 and 1994, against a background of earlier extended periods of delay.