“The CA has confirmed Teare J's decision to refuse to order a cross-undertaking in damages in relation to a ship-arrest. The CA found that there was no case to intervene on this discretionary decision when the Judge had followed the usual practice; further, departing from the established practice would undermine confidence in the maritime jurisdiction. However, whereas Teare J took the view that only Parliament could bring about the change sought by the defendants, the CA considered that theoretically it fell within the Court's discretion — although in the absence of international consensus and overwhelming support from the maritime industry, there was no reason to alter the status quo.”

“The Supreme Court has overruled the Court of Appeal and held that defending a cargo claim under the Hague Rules, a carrier must prove (i) that the loss was not caused by a breach of the Article III cargo care duties and (ii) not just that the matter falls within one of the Article IV r2 exceptions but that there was no causative negligence on his part.”

“A time charter performance warranty was based on "good weather condition" (Beaufort 4 etc.) but without specifying the period it must subsist in order to qualify. The Tribunal rejected an argument that at least 12 hours of good or bad weather in any noon to noon period should characterise weather. Although performance was ultimately decided on other grounds, the Tribunal suggested that a better method was to look at weather conditions at the beginning and end each 6-hour period within any noon to noon 24 hours in order to characterise a weather day.”

“Pursuant to contracts, Cargill made advance payments (USD61m) to Uttam for the purchase of steel, obliging Uttam either to provide steel to that value or refund the advance. Uttam did neither and Cargill sought and obtained summary judgment. The Court declined to hold that Cargill's contractually separate failure to take up Uttam's other offers of steel constituted a defence (based on the 'prevention principle') with a reasonable prospect of success.”

“In connection with a contested constructive total loss claim under a war risks policy on the vessel "Brillante Virtuoso", the defendant underwriters — who allege that the vessel was "scuttled" by her Owner — applied for an order to reveal the hitherto protected identity of a key witness in the action. Despite the order being opposed by City of London Police, the Court granted the application because the true identity was already known to those who could pose a threat to the witness, therefore the anonymity was not necessary to avoid harm to him or his relatives.”

“Under a voyage charter on an amended Shellvoy 5 form, charterers exercised their right to cancel but also claimed damages following from a breach of the obligation to commence the approach voyage in time. Although the c/p contained neither ETA nor expected readiness to load provision, the CA, confirming the Court below, found that the c/p references to the previous fixture itinerary equally imposed upon owners an obligation to begin the approach voyage "forthwith" or "within a reasonable time".”