AET INC LTD V ARCADIA PETROLEUM LTD (THE "EAGLE VALENCIA")

[2010] EWCA Civ 713, Court of Appeal, Civil Division, Lord Justice Longmore, Lord Justice Richards and Lord Justice Etherton, 23 June 2010

Charterparty (voyage) - Notice of readiness - Owners failed to obtain free pratique - Documentation of demurrage claim - Shellvoy 5

The claimant owners had chartered a vessel to the defendant charterers on Shellvoy 5 terms. Clause 22 stated that the notice of readiness (NOR) would not be valid if, inter alia, owners failed to obtain free pratique within six hours of giving NOR. The vessel failed to obtain free pratique before she berthed, and the dispute between the parties was essentially whether on a true construction of the charterparty the failure to obtain free pratique was at the risk of owners or charterers. Owners also applied for leave to amend to say that they had served a fresh NOR but charterers objected saying that such a point would have had to be notified within 60 days and fully and completely documented within 90 days after completion of discharge, and had therefore been extinguished. At first instance the owners' claim for demurrage had succeeded. Charterers appealed.