BILGENT SHIPPING PTE LTD V ADM INTERNATIONAL SARL (THE “ALPHA HARMONY”)

[2019] EWHC 2522 (Comm), Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court, Mr Justice Teare, 2 October 2019

Charterparty (voyage) – Notice of readiness tendered outside office hours – Charterer cancelling charterparty – Whether cancellation valid

This was the litigation of two voyage charterparties for the vessel Alpha Harmony: the head charterparty from Oldendorff to ADM, which was concluded on the 13 November 2014; and the sub-charterparty from ADM to Bilgent, which was concluded on 5 November 2014. The head charterparty was on amended Norgrain terms and the sub-charterparty on amended Baltimore Form C berth grain form. The head charterparty concerned two voyages, the sub-voyage charterparty concerned just one voyage from Brazil to China. The relevant laycan period under both charterparties ended on 31 May 2015 and was subsequently narrowed to end on 10 May. Both charterparties provided for notice of readiness (“NOR”) to be delivered between 08.00 and 17.00 on a weekday and 08.00 and 11.00 on a Saturday, but no provision was made for delivery of NOR on a Sunday. The vessel tendered NOR by email at 07.04 on 10 May 2015, which was a Sunday. Bilgent cancelled the charterparty at 20.47 on the same day, and ADM cancelled the head charterparty at 05.55 the following morning. The arbitration panel held that the charterers’ cancellations were invalid where NOR had been tendered before the relevant time on the cancelling date but not during the permitted hours. Bilgent and ADM appealed under their respective charterparties.