NATIONAL SHIPPING COMPANY OF SAUDI ARABIA V BP OIL SUPPLY COMPANY

[2011] EWCA Civ 1127, Court of Appeal (Civil Division), Lord Justice Ward, Lord Justice Tomlinson and Sir Mark Potter, 12 October 2011

Charterparty (voyage) - Demurrage - Damages for detention - Period counting as laytime or demurrage - Owners unaware that period counted - Whether by agreeing to demurrage calculation in respect of other time owners precluded from recovering demurrage - Whether claim time-barred

The owners of the vessel Abqaiq, the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, agreed pursuant to a charterparty on BPVOY4 form dated 29 January 2008 with the charterers, BP Oil Supply Company, to perform with their vessel a single cargo-carrying voyage from Freeport Bahamas to Singapore. The cargo was to be dirty petroleum products - in the event heavy sulphur fuel oil. At Freeport an incident occurred which owners at the time took to be an interruption of laytime. A ship-to-ship transfer of a parcel of cargo was to be carried out, but due to circumstances attributable to charterers, the suitable berths were not available at the same time which caused a delay. In response to owners' claim, charterers responded that all demurrage claims had been finally settled in the interim and that in any event the claim was time-barred.