Euro-Baltic Lines Ltd v The Owners of the Ship “Kaliningrad” (The “Nadezhda Krupskaya”) - QBD (Admlty Ct)(Rix J) - 19 February 1997

Tort - Shipowners discover that one of their vessels had been sub-sub-chartered to a competitor - Shipowners withdraw vessel from service of competitor - Whether Shipowners liable for tort of inducement of breach of contract

The defendants were a large Russian shipowner which operated inter alia liner services between St Petersburg and the United States. The plaintiff was a modern competitor. In January 1994 the plaintiffs started a liner trade between St Petersburg and Northern Europe. Towards the end of the year the plaintiffs began preparations for a new service between St Petersburg and the United States. The plaintiffs performed their first transatlantic sailing in December 1994, followed by further sailings in January and February 1995. In late January it learned of the opportunity in the market to sub-sub-charter one of the defendants’ own ships, the Nadezhda Krupskaya . When the defendants discovered that their competitor had sub-sub-chartered their own ship, they refused to allow performance and “withdrew” the vessel.