London Arbitration 16/98

Laytime - Whether charterers designated and procured a berth reachable on arrival - Whether owners or charterers liable for delay in vessel reaching berth

The vessel (“the subject vessel”) was chartered on the Asbatankvoy form. She arrived at the discharge port at 1345 on 31 December. At the time of her arrival the berth to which she was destined to go was empty. However, the charterers had also chartered another ship (“the other vessel”) which had arrived at the same discharge port the previous day, and they wanted to berth her first. Unfortunately, the other vessel could not berth on 31 December because of bad weather during the first part of the day, and because from 1700 onwards (until 0800 on 2 January) tugs were not available due to holidays.