Allied Marine Transport Ltd. v. Vale Do Rio Doce Navegacao S.A. (The Leonidas D) - Court of Appeal (Griffiths, Robert Goff and Stephen Brown L.JJ.) - 3 April 1985

No activity in arbitration reference for five years - Whether inaction of parties constituted agreement to abandon the reference

A dispute arose under a charterparty on the NYPE form containing a London arbitration clause. In April 1976 the parties appointed arbitrators but no third arbitrator was ever appointed. Nothing happened in the arbitration until 3 August 1981 when the charterers’ solicitors wrote to the owners’ solicitors asking for an admission of liability in default of which the charterers would proceed with the pending arbitration. On 20 November 1981 the charterers served Points of Claim. The owners applied for a declaration that the arbitration agreement contained in the charterparty was at an end, it having been mutually abandoned and/or rescinded by the parties.