Misano Di Navigazione S.p.A. v. United States of America (The Mare del Nord) - U.S. Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit) (Miner and Walker C.JJ. and Kelleher D.J.) - 30 June 1992

Government inspector rejected vessel’s holds as unclean - Shipowner claimed that no reasonable commercial surveyor would have rejected vessel - Whether inspector subject to objective standard of reasonableness or only to a good faith standard of satisfaction

The vessel Mare del Nord was chartered by the U.S. Government to carry a cargo of Navy Special Fuel Oil from Rosyth, Scotland to Guantanamo, Cuba. The charter was on a standard contract form drafted and used by the Government. When the vessel presented at the loading port she was rejected by the Government’s inspector, a Master Sergeant. He discovered a substance similar to “heavy, thick apple butter” in the vessel’s manifold and tanks. Fearing that the residue on the tanks would be incompatible with Navy Special Fuel Oil, the inspector rejected the tanks as “unclean”.