JOL and Another v JPM [2023] EWHC 2486 (Comm), King's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Foxton) - 9 October 2023

Charterparties - Arbitration - Interim relief from court - Whether court should order return of vessels - Arbitration Act 1996, sections 38 and 44

The claimants were the owners of two vessels chartered to the respondent charterers under two head bareboat charterparties dated 13 December 2017. Disputes were to be resolved by LMAA arbitration. The charterers sub-chartered the vessels to GHH by bareboat sub-charterparties dated 11 October 2018 and 5 February 2019, written on back-to-back terms. The obligations of the charterers were guaranteed by SRS. GHH in turn sub-sub-chartered the vessels to PPM on bareboat terms under sub-sub-charters on the same days, and the vessels were then time-chartered to WTB and HDN. SRS owned 77.4 per cent of GHH, and GHH in turn was the 100 per cent owner of the charterers, the sub-charterers and the sub-sub-charterers