Hong Kong Arbitration 1/94

Charterers fail to provide cargo for vessel at loading port - Whether owners entitled to withdraw vessel

The issue in this arbitration was whether the shipowners were entitled to withdraw the vessel consequent upon a delay by the charterers in providing the contractual cargo. The Tribunal referred to the so-called “Jupiter” scandal in the late 1960’s when a large number of VLCCs had been chartered by an operator called “Jupiter” and no loading orders had been forthcoming except to wait outside those oil ports in the Persian Gulf like Kharg Island. The owners of those VLCCs had had to gamble whether to sail away at their own risks, or to wait, and for how long. In the end, “Jupiter” had never surfaced again, and the owners who had waited a little longer proved to be over-cautious. That kind of dilemma facing shipowners was not uncommon. It was because of that risk and uncertainty that various versions of the so-called “Jupiter” Clause appeared in charterparties. For example: