SPC Shipping Inc. v. Maritime Overseas Corporation (The Overseas Washington - 5 April 1983

Owner must inform charterer of material changes in vessel’s condition during course of charterparty

SPC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sohio, entered into a tanker chartering programme in 1976 and in 1977 to enable Sohio to move Alaskan crude oil to U.S. West Coast markets and, in the case of any surplus, through the Panama Canal to Caribbean, Gulf, and East Coast markets. One group of vessels (between 80,000 dwt and 265,000 dwt) was chartered for trade between Valdez and the West Coast and the Petroterminal De Panama (PTP) transhipment facility on the Pacific side of Panama (the Valdez fleet). Another group of vessels (between 30,000 dwt and 90,000 dwt) was chartered for trade between the PTP facility and the U.S. Gulf Coast, East Coast and Caribbean discharge ports (the Canal fleet).