Havila Kystruten AS and Others v STLC Europe Twenty Three Leasing Ltd and Another - [2022] EWHC 3166 (Comm), King's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Stephen Houseman KC, sitting as a Judge of the High Court), 8 December 2022

Shipping - Financing - Sale and lease-back under charterparties - Sanctions imposed upon financing lessors - Whether demand for termination payment precluded termination for breach - Whether payment into nominated bank account amounted to "receipt" even though account was frozen by sanctions

Under four shipbuilding contracts dated 31 December 2019, the second claimant (HKO) agreed to buy four vessels - Capella, Castor, Polaris and Pollux - built or being built by a Turkish shipyard, for use in the coastal passenger transport service operated by the Norwegian Ministry of Transport. Some €54 million was invested by HKO in the new-build project. Financing was partly provided by indirect subsidiaries of GTLK, a Russian state-owned and controlled financing house, structured as lease financing with back-to-back sales and bareboat charters.