UKDC in action

Litigation can be costly and, if unsuccessful, can involve paying not only your own legal costs but those of your opponents.

We have a long history of supporting our Members in many jurisdictions, regardless of the complexity or cost of their disputes.

Explore these case studies to learn more about how the UK Defence Club supports our Members to achieve the right outcome for them.

1. Charterparty and IMO 2020 dispute – the introduction of new regulations in early 2020 was aimed by the IMO at reducing air pollution and the environmental impact of shipping. Compliance with the new regulations generated a number of disputes, including one for our Member where the shipowner argued that, under bespoke terms in the charterparty, it was the charterer’s responsibility to install scrubbers. The Club supported the case and the tribunal held that the terms of the specific charter meant the compliance obligation rested with the owner.

2. Time charter dispute – Following the completion of a time charter, our Member demanded the return of the tanker they owned.  The charterer refused while negotiations continued for a further charter and declined to pay any hire charges for the time between the first charter period and a new one. The Club supported the owner Member through successful London arbitration proceedings where costs in excess of $300,000 were incurred.

3, Breech of redelivery agreement – Our Member was the owner of an offshore unit seeking monies from a charterer following redelivery at the end of a long-term charterparty. The case incurred fees that approached $1m but, with Club support, our Member was awarded multi-million dollar damages at tribunal and costs were recovered.

4. Collision during discharge operations – A vessel with parted lines struck our Member’s container ship that was safely moored alongside during discharge operations. The Club supported our Member’s claim against the owner of the other ship before the local court and, ultimately, the dispute was settled by means of a mediation with a substantive recovery for the Member.

5. Defects during shipbuilding – Our Member was having two new container ships built but became aware of serious welding defects in the construction. With the assistance and support of the Club the Member appointed independent welding and metallurgical specialists to inspect and examine the condition of the welds. The yard would not co-operate, so the Member commenced London arbitration proceedings that resulted in a settlement on a commercial basis with very substantial damages and a large cost recovery.

6. Shipyard insolvency – Our Member had agreed several contracts with a shipyard and paid instalments towards the contract price. These payments were protected by bank guarantees arranged by the shipyard, but these had not anticipated the yard entering statutory insolvency protection. When this did happen, our Member sought payment from the guarantees only to find the bank arguing that under a strict interpretation the insolvency scenario was not covered. We supported our Member to take the case to the UK Supreme Court which applied a “commercial common sense” approach of what a reasonable person would have expected the parties to have intended in their drafting and held that insolvency fell within the scope of the guarantees.

7. Hire status during piracy event – The Club supported a Member to bring a case to the English High Court to establish whether a ship detained by pirates would still be considered as on hire. In this case, the charterer had placed the ship off hire while it was detained but the court disagreed that such an event qualified for the off hire clause and therefore the ship remained on hire while held hostage by pirates.