Tonzip Maritime Ltd v 2Rivers Pte Ltd [2025] EWHC 2036 (Comm), King's Bench Division, Commercial Court (Andrew Hochhauser KC, sitting as a Deputy Judge of the High Court), 31 July 2025

Charterparty - EU and UK sanctions - Whether charterparty justifiably terminated by carrier - Time bar for damages claim

On 5 November 2021 the claimant chartered the vessel Catalan Sea to the defendant for a voyage from a port in the Ust Luga to Primorsk range (a Russian Baltic Sea port) to Aliaga, Turkey, carrying a cargo of oil. The charterparty contained an "EPS Sanctions Clause", under which the defendant warranted that it would not expose the claimant, the vessel, the crew or insurers to any national, international or supranational law or regulation imposing trade and economic sanctions, prohibitions or restrictions.