swarb.co.uk - law index
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Transport - From: 1991 To: 1991
This page lists 5 cases, and was prepared on 02 April 2018.
ÂTorvald Klaveness A/S v Arni Maritime Corporation (The Gregos) [1991] 2 LLoyds Rep 40
1991
ChD
Evans J
Contract, Transport
The ship was returned late from a charter. The court was asked whether or not the legitimacy of the last voyage fell to be established at the date when the order was given or at the time when the last voyage began. Held: It was the second: "the charterer does commit a breach of contract by failing to redeliver at the end of the charter period and is liable in damages, if the market rate exceeds the charter rate, as well as for hire until redelivery takes place".
1 Citers
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The Black Falcon [1991] I LLR 77
1991
Steyn J
Contract, Transport
The ship under charter was returned late. The arbitrators had awarded the market rate of hire from the date when the vessel would have been delivered if she had not undertaken her last (illegitimate) voyage rather than from the last date when she could have been delivered without a breach of charterparty. Held: The courtoverturned the award: "In my judgement the arbitrators' approach conflicts with the principle governing the calculation of damages which was enunciated in The Dione . . A study of the judgments of the majority reveals that this case is authority for the proposition that in circumstances where the owners undertook the illegitimate last voyage without waiving their rights to claim damages, the charterers' obligation is to pay the charter rate until the last permissible date for redelivery, and thereafter pay the market rate until the actual redelivery . . I am of course bound by this decision. But . . I would have come to the same conclusion in the absence of authority."
1 Citers
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The Peonia [1991] I Lloyd's Rep 100
1991
CA
Lord Justice Bingham, Lord Justice Slade
Damages, Transport, Contract
The ship had been returned beyond the charter date. The court was asked whether, when the vessel was sent on a legitimate last voyage but, through no fault of the charterers, was then redelivered after the final terminal date, the owners were entitled in respect of the overrun period to hire at the market rate (if higher than the charterparty rate) or only at the charterparty rate. Held: The owners could claim the market rate. In relation to an illegitimate last voyage Lord Justice Bingham said that the owner: "was entitled to payment of hire at the charterparty rate until redelivery of the vessel and (provided he does not waive the charterer's breach) to damages (being the difference between the charter rate and the market rate if the market rate is higher than the charter rate) for the period between the final terminal date and redelivery".
Lord Justice Slade: "The judgments of Lord Denning MR and Lord Justice Browne in The Dione …are, in my opinion, on a proper analysis, authority binding this Court for the proposition that if charterers send a vessel on a legitimate last voyage and the vessel is thereafter delayed for any reason (other than the fault of the owners) so that it is redelivered after the final terminal date, the charterers will (in the absence of agreement to the contrary) be in breach of contract and accordingly, if the market rate has gone up, will be obliged to pay by way of damages the market rate for any excess period after the final termination date up to redelivery…"
1 Citers
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Elpis Maritime Company Limited v Marti Chartering Company Limited (The Maria D) [1991] 3 WLR 330; [1992] 1 AC 21; [1991] 3 All ER 758; [1991] 2 Lloyds Rep 311
1991
HL
Lord Brandon
Contract, Transport
Brokers (Marti) were to guarantee a charter on the Gencon form, which contained, as one of the additional typed clauses a provision (Clause 24) in the following terms: "Demurrage guaranteed and payable directly by charterers to owners. However Marti guarantees about outstanding demurrage, if any, and for balance freight" The brokers stamped and signed the front page "For and on behalf of charterers as brokers only". The intervening pages were, so far as the brokers were concerned, simply stamped with the brokers' stamp without any indication of capacity. The last page (which was the last page of the typed additional clauses 18-55) bore the brokers stamp and a signature below the words "Charterers". There was an oral contract, made in the course of telephone conversations, by which Marti guaranteed the liabilities of the charterers in respect of demurrage and the balance of the freight. Held: Lord Brandon indicated that there were two possibilities: a) Marti signed the page containing clause 24 as a contracting party, in which case the prior oral agreement of guarantee was subsumed in the written agreement signed by Marti on its own account so that there was a written agreement of guarantee signed by the person to be charged therewith and enforceable in the first of the two ways prescribed by the Statute; and b) Marti signed the charterparty, including clause 24, solely as agents of the charterers, in which case the signature, although affixed as agent for the charterers, was nevertheless a note or memorandum of the prior oral agreement. It was irrelevant with what intention or in what capacity Marti signed. Held: The contention failed. It was irrelevant in what capacity or with what intention the document there being considered was signed. What mattered was the signature.
1 Cites
1 Citers
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 Attorney-General (ex relatione Yorkshire Derwent Trust Ltd) v Brotherton; HL 5-Dec-1991 - Gazette, 15 January 1992; [1991] 3 WLR 1126; [1992] 1 AC 425; (1991) 63 P & CR 411; (1991) 90 LGR 15
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