M H PROGRESS LINES SA V ORIENT SHIPPING ROTTERDAM BV (THE "GENIUS STAR 1")

[2011] EWHC 3083 (Comm), Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court, Mr Justice Teare, 28 November 2011

Charterparty (time) - Charterparty dispute resolution clause containing time bar - Effect of Interclub Agreement 1996 on claims time bar

This was the appeal of M H Progress, the owners of Genius Star 1, against an arbitration award. Charterers/disponent owners did not appear but the appeal was resisted by sub-charterers Nordana. The head charter for Genius Star 1 was a time charter on NYPE 1946 terms for two years, one month molcopt with a further optional third year, dated 30 May 2005, and also provided that all cargo claims were to be settled according to the Interclub Agreement 1996 (ICA 96). The sub-charter was for a single trip time charter for 20 to 25 days, dated 25 August 2006. The charterparties contained a time bar of one year from final discharge. A cargo claim arose and was made more than one year from final discharge by sub-charterers against their disponent owners and by the time charterers against the owners. The question was whether cargo claims which were to be settled and apportioned according to ICA 96 were subject to the Centrocon arbitration clause in the charterparty which specified that a written claim must be made and arbitrators appointed within one year.