Tropwood v. Jade Enterprises Ltd. (The Tropwind) - Court of Appeal (Lord Denning M.R., Dunn and Fox L.JJ.) - 18 December 1981

Time charter - Whether owners entitled to withdraw vessel where charterers made deductions from hire

The Tropwind was time-chartered to Jade Enterprises for 12 months from 8 January 1973 to 8 January 1974. The charter hire was $3.70 per ton. During the period of the charter the market rate rose to $8.50 per ton. On 14 December 1973 the shipowners purported to withdraw the vessel on the ground that the charterers had wrongfully deducted the estimated cost of bunkers from the last payment of hire. The issues centred on the construction of clause 56 of the charterparty, a typed clause, which read: