Emirates Shipping Line DMCEST v Gold Star Line Ltd [2023] EWHC 880 (Comm) - King's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mrs Justice Dias) - 25 April 2023

Arbitration - Slot purchase agreement - Jurisdiction - Whether parties had entered into arbitration agreement - Express agreement - Implied agreement - Estoppel - Arbitration Act 1996, section 67

Gold Star Line (GSL) was part of a consortium together with KMTC, Evergreen Marine Corporation Ltd and Pendulum Express Lines Ltd, which operated a container liner service. The consortium was governed by a 2018 memorandum of understanding (MOU). Each company contributed one or more vessels to the service and in return was entitled to an agreed basic slot allocation of space on other vessels.