What’s the problem? On one side the owner has an obligation to follow the charterer’s slow-steaming instructions under the charterparty yet on the other the owner has the usually implied obligation under the Bill of Lading to proceed with due dispatch. Due dispatch means the most direct route at the fastest speed. There is legal authority that an unreasonable delay is a deviation. A deviation in this respect is a departure from the contractually agreed voyage that deprives the carrier of the defences and rights of limitation that are usually available under The Hague or Hague Visby Rules.