Interore Trading Ltd. v. The General Trading & Chemicals Co. (The North Wave) - Before Jack Berg (Chairman), William V. Griffin and George F. Gahles - 19 October 1984

Commodity sellers settle demurrage claim with vessel’s disponent owners - Whether seller entitled to be reimbursed by buyers

The plaintiff sellers agreed to sell a quantity of urea to the defendant buyers. In executing its delivery obligations, the sellers voyage-chartered the vessel North Wave to carry the urea from Yugoslavia to Egypt. The sale contract provided that demurrage incurred at the port of discharge was for buyer’s account. The voyage charterparty provided that demurrage at discharging port was to be settled “directly between [disponent] owners and receivers, without liability and/or intervention of the charterers”. The urea cargo was consigned to the Main Bank for Development and Agricultural Credit (MBDC).