MUR Shipping BV v RTI Ltd – Queen’s Bench Division (Commercial Court) [2022] EWHC 467 (Comm) (Jacobs J) – 3 March 2022

Contract of affreightment – Sanctions – Force majeure affecting delay in loading and discharge – Exercise of reasonable endeavours – Dollar payments required by the contract – Offer to pay in euros – Causation – Whether arbitration award could be upheld for other reasons

The claimant owners, MUR Shipping, concluded a contract of affreightment (COA) with the defendant charterers, RTI, in June 2016. Under the COA MUR agreed to carry 280,000 mt per month of bauxite, in consignments of 30,000 to 40,000 mt, from Conakry in Guinea to Dneprobugsky in Ukraine. The COA contained a force majeure clause applying to prevention or delay in loading or discharging.