Azov Shipping Co v Baltic Shipping Co - QBD (Com Ct)(Colman J) - 11 May 1999

Arbitration - Arbitrator’s power to determine own substantive jurisdiction - Whether parties had made a valid arbitration agreement - Commercial Court making observations in relation to procedures under Arbitration Act 1996

In December 1992 an agreement was entered into by at least nine shipping corporations, all of which had been state-owned and state-operated regional entities under the Soviet Union. The agreement (‘the GUCA’) was about the general use of containers of International Standard ISC. Under it the parties set up a system, the main object of which was to provide for mutual compensation for the interchange of containers between them. Clause 5.5 of the GUCA contained a London arbitration clause.