The outbreak of Covid-19 and its legal implications on the performance of charterparties

Edward Liu and Maggie Lee consider the legal implications of Covid-19 on the performance of charterparties, especially the issues of force majeure and frustration, from the perspectives of English and Chinese law.

On 30 January 2020 the World Health Organization (“WHO”) declared that the new 2019 novel coronavirus was a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”. ¹ On 11 February 2020 the WHO announced that the official name of the new 2019 novel coronavirus was Covid-19. Various countries have adopted draconian measures to contain the outbreak, such as mandatory quarantine, office closures, lockdown of large areas, and far-reaching travel restrictions.