Transatlantica Commodities Pte Ltd v EuroChem Trading GmbH [2026] EWHC 1494 (Comm)

Damages for a missed COA shipment

The English Commercial Court dismissed an appeal under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 from an LMAA award concerning a contract of affreightment (COA) for fertiliser shipments from Sillamae, Estonia to Brazil/North America. The court ruled that the COA created separate obligations for each shipment, meaning that failing to perform one shipment could not be cured by delivering a later one. As a result, the charterers could recover damages based on the standard measure of the difference between the contract rate and the market rate, which reflected the expense of securing a substitute vessel.