Neon Shipping Inc v Foreign Economic & Technical Corporation Co of China and Another - QBD (Comm Ct) (Burton J) [2016] EWHC 399 (Comm) - 2 March 2016

Contract - Shipbuilding contract - Time-bar - Buyer complaining of faulty cranes more than three years after delivery of vessel - Contract providing for GuaranteePeriod of 12 months from delivery with notice of any defect being given not later than 30 days after end of Guarantee Period - Buyer not giving notice of crane defect within contractual period - Whether buyer's claim time-barred - Whether section14(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 applicable to shipbuilding contract where vessel built for use in standardised trade

On 6 December 2006 the claimant buyer entered into a shipbuilding contract with the defendant seller for the design, build and supply of a 57,000 dwt bulk carrier (the Contract). The buyer accepted the vessel without reservation and it was delivered on 12 November 2009. Article XI of the Contract provided for a “Guarantee Period” of 12 months, which expired on 12 November 2010.