Atcis v. The Sanko SS Co. Ltd. - Mr. Justice Lloyd - Q.B. - Mar. 14, 1980

Whether vessel off-hire - Above permitted draft - Cost of transhipment

A vessel had been chartered on a time charter for one time charter trip. The vessel loaded coal at Baltimore for carriage to Japan. She was refused entry to the Panama Canal because she was drawing too much water for a passage through a freshwater lake in the canal. 636 tons were discharged so that she could proceed, and that amount was transhipped into a vessel which followed the chartered vessel. The coal was reloaded at the other side of the canal and the voyage was continued. The transhipment costs amounted to over $70,000 and involved a delay of over eight days. The charterers withheld payment of hire for that period. The owners claimed the cost of transhipment and the payment of hire.