Refusal to transit the Gulf of Aden

Charterers’ instructed route presenting danger of piracy – Captain refusing that route – CONWARTIME 1993

Edward Yang Liu, Legal Assistant, Reed Smith Richards Butler

Pacific Basin IHX Ltd v Bulkhandling Handymax AS (The ‘Triton Lark’) [2011] EWHC 2862 (Comm)

As more than 20,000 vessels transit via the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Aden each year, this route is one of the busiest principal waterways in the world. However, this sea route is also notorious for being perilous due to the prevalence of Somali pirates for some years. It is therefore important for both shipowners and charterers to know whether a shipowner can refuse to obey its charterers’ orders because of the risk of pirate attacks.