Court Of Appeal News

In a well-timed decision given the current situation in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, the UK Supreme Court recently handed down judgment in Herculito Maritime Ltd v Gunvor International BV [2024] UKSC 2, a decision that arose from seizure of a ship by Somali pirates.Key factsThe vessel MT Polar was chartered to carry a cargo of fuel oil from St Petersburg to Singapore. The most direct route would be via the Suez Canal and Gulf of Aden.The Gulf of Aden was within the “high risk area” for piracy when the charter was agreed.

Malaysian FPSO leasing company Bumi Armada said Tuesday it had completed the sale of the Armada Claire floating production storage and offloading vessel. The FPSO was sold by Bumi Armada's subsidiary, Armada Balnaves."The Armada Claire sale was on an “as is where is” basis, at a sale price of US$20 million. The sale proceeds were received by [Armada Balnaves] on April 19, 2023," Bumi Armada said,Bumi Armada said it would recognize a gain on sale of the Armada Claire FPSO of approximately US$12 million in its second quarter financial results. Proceeds from the FPSO sale, net of transaction fees, will be used to reduce Bumi Armada Group’s corporate debt.

In Havila Kystruten AS v Abarca Compania de Seguros AS,¹ in which Watson Farley & Williams LLP represented the successful Norwegian shipowner, an English court has provided helpful and very detailed guidance on a number of issues relating to the parties’ rights to terminate shipbuilding contracts as well as the nature and scope of refund guarantees.BackgroundRefund guarantees are the lifeblood of shipbuilding, providing invaluable security to owners/buyers who must usually cash fund a significant proportion of the price of newbuildings during the construction phase (usually at least 40%)…

A Swedish appeal court ordered on Tuesday that a district court try again a case against two film makers accused of disturbing the ferry Estonia that sank in the Baltic sea in 1994 with the loss of 852 lives.The lower court in 2021 dismissed charges of disturbing a marine grave against the two Swedes, saying the law that protects the site did not apply to foreign-registered vessels in international waters.The film team had in 2019 lowered a remotely operated vehicle to the Estonia from a German-flagged ship…

Singapore's highest court has dismissed an appeal by oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin and his two children after they were successfully sued for breach of fiduciary duties by the court-appointed managers of a company they once owned.Lim is the founder of defunct Hin Leong Trading Pte Ltd and Ocean Tankers, once one of Asia's largest oil trading and shipping firms, which both went under judicial management in 2020, after oil prices collapsed."The entire conduct of this litigation has led to an immensely unsatisfactory state of affairs…

Law firm HFW said Tuesday it had advised Chinese shipbuilder Shanghai Shipyard on a UK Court of Appeal win relating to a US$170 million payment under a shipbuilding contract for an offshore drillship.The Court of Appeal overturned an April 2020 decision from the UK High Court that allowed the buyer of an offshore drillship – Reignwood International – to withhold a final payment installment that was due on delivery of the vessel, pending the outcome of arbitration proceedings.The Court of Appeal unanimously overturned a first instance decision in a preliminary issues trial concerning the proper characterization of a shipbuilding performance guarantee issued by Reignwood…

An Egyptian court on Tuesday ruled that the containership which blocked the Suez Canal in March could continue to be held in the waterway, rejecting an appeal by its Japanese owner against its detention, a judicial source said.The Ever Given, one of the world's largest container ships, got jammed across the canal on March 23 and remained stuck for six days, stopping traffic in both directions.It has been held in a lake between two stretches of the canal since being dislodged on March 29…

A Bangladeshi woman whose husband died dismantling an oil tanker in a local shipyard was given the green light this week to keep pursuing a claim for compensation from a UK company linked to the vessel in a test case for the shipbreaking industry.Britain’s Court of Appeal threw out a request by London-based shipbroker Maran (UK) Ltd for the negligence case to be dismissed, the second appeal the company has lost.Hamida Begum’s husband, Khalil Mollah, 32, fell to his death in 2018 while breaking up the tanker Ekta in the Bangladesh port of Chattogram…

This article will focus on conflicts of laws stemming from the EU Blocking Statute and U.S. antiboycott law, both of which are intended to prevent parties from complying with a disfavored sanctions regime. The article will highlight some of the inherent conflicts in dealing with multiple conflicting sanctions regimes. It follows our comprehensive summary of sanctions and shipping, which covered several of the issues herein in some detail.Antiboycott law: in generalAntiboycott law is essentially the inverse of sanctions law.

Canada's National Energy Board (NEB) regulator recommended on Friday that Ottawa approve expansion of the government-owned Trans Mountain oil pipeline, but made new, nonbinding recommendations to mitigate harm to Pacific Ocean killer whales and the environment.The pipeline is in the national interest as it will create jobs and give Canadian oil access to more markets, the NEB said in a report. But expanding it is likely to significantly harm the killer whale population off the coast of British Columbia and increase greenhouse gas emissions from ships…

The Supreme Court has dismissed claims of EUR 9 mln (USD 10.51 mln) from Norway's PGS Geophysical (UK) Limited against Armada Seismic Invest II AS in connection with the delivery of 3D seismic vessel Polar Duchess, said a press release from GC Rieber Shipping ASA. The Norwegian shipping company that operates offshore subsea support vessels said in a stock exchange annoucement: "Reference is made to the stock exchange announcement 29 May 2018, where it was announced that PGS had appealed Gulating Court of Appeal`s decision in PGS claim of approx. "The dispute has now been adjudicated by the Supreme Court`s appeals committee, which has rendered its decision. The Supreme Court's appeal committee ruled in favor of Armada and the claim against Armada has been dismissed," it added.

It is neither controversial nor new to say that co-assureds under a joint insurance policy cannot claim against each other in respect of a co-insured loss. It is taken to be an implied term and the possibility of financial claims between co-assureds is irrelevant: the insurer will pay. If there are only two, an owner and a charterer, in the contractual chain, and if the charterer is held liable, then the matter goes no further: the insurer covers the loss and there is no recourse claim to be pursued. However, what happens if there is a guilty third party and the insurer wants to pursue a subrogated claim (against, say, a sub-charterer on materially back to back terms) to recover its financial outlay?

Korea's battered Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is all set to receive a new bailout package worth $6 billion, after court rejected appeal from a group of individual investors. According to Pulse news, government-led bailout package that required all creditors and bondholders to agree to push back the maturity, lower borrowing rates, and convert debt into equity according to their share had been put on hold as some of the individual investors appealed to a Busan court. The sources said that the rescheduling scheme is now set to go, and half of its existing debt would be converted into equity in DSME by next month to significantly push down the debt ratio to 300 percent from 2,732 percent as of the end of December.

As widely reported in the maritime press, the United Kingdom's Supreme Court has granted an expedited hearing to Product Shipping & Trading's case against the collapsed OW Bunker (the Res Cogitans). The hearing will take place on 22 March in London and will deliver the final English law verdict on whether many hundreds of shipowners should pay OW Bunker's assignee ING Bank or pay the physical suppliers. In October 2015 it was held by the Court of Appeal that the UK Sale of Goods Act 1979 did not apply to contracts signed with OW Bunker as an intermediary for the supply of bunkers on credit.

Ferries owned by Groupe Eurotunnel and run under the MyFerryLink brand can continue to run between Britain and France, after a British court upheld an appeal from a workers' collective which runs run the ferries. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been examining Eurotunnel's move into the ferry market since late 2012, and a tribunal earlier this year ruled that Eurotunnel should cease its MyFerryLink operations. But by a two to one majority decision, the Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the appeal by the Société Coopérative de Production de SeaFrance, the workers' collective involved in running the ferries. The CMA will now consider whether to launch an appeal to the Supreme Court.

As previously announced, Electromagnetic Geoservices ASA (EMGS) has issued claims against Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) in the High Court of Justice, Patent Court, in London, UK, and in Norwegian courts on the basis that PGS used its Towed Streamer EM in the territory of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Norway in violation of one of EMGS' patents. On 13 February 2015, EMGS received the decision of the Oslo City Court where EMGS' patent is found to be invalid. EMGS has decided to appeal the decision. EMGS successfully defended the patent against claims of invalidity from Schlumberger Holding Ltd in the Netherlands, in February 2008 and in the UK Court of Appeal in July 2010 and through several oppositions in the European Patent Office appeal division in December 2011.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for Chukchi Sea Lease Sale 193, moving the DOI a step closer to resolving federal court concerns regarding the 2008 oil and gas leases offshore Alaska. The FSEIS updates the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s (BOEM) estimates of the full range of production levels from offshore oil fields that might be developed in the Chukchi Sea as well as the related potential environmental effects of the lease sale. “Alaska is a critical component of our nation’s energy portfolio, and the Chukchi Sea has substantial oil and gas potential, as well as sensitive marine and coastal resources that Alaska Native communities depend on for subsistence,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell.

Venice, Italy has overturned a ban on cruise ships over 96,000 gross tonnage from sailing through the city’s Giudecca channel and passing St. Mark’s Square. Venice's regional court of appeal (Tribunale Amministrativo Regionale) threw out the limit imposed in November 2014 for large cruise ships over 96,000 gross tons (which roughly equates to 2,260 passengers) to sail to the city's main cruise terminal. The ban also limits the number of ships of 40,000 tons or more to five per day. Over the summer, celebrities like Michael Douglas and Cate Blanchett rallied in support of the ban citing the destruction and potential for flooding of the historic landmarks.

On 10 December 2010, the state commercial court in Arkhangelsk decided in favour of Odfjell and approved our application concerning the recognition and enforcement of the arbitral award filed against Sevmash shipyard. Odfjell has been informed that the Ruling of the Court has been appealed by Sevmash to the relevant court of appeal (Cassation Court in St. Petersburg). No information has been received with respect to when the case will be heard by the Cassation Court. In 2004 Odfjell placed an order at Sevmash, a large shipyard near Arkhangelsk, for up to 12 chemical tankers, each of about 45,000 tons capacity. The newbuilding contracts included an arbitration clause under Swedish law. Excessive and continuing delays of construction forced Odfjell in 2008 to cancel these contracts.

The Court of Appeal in its judgment today ruled that certain provisions in the Joint Venture Agreement between Sembcorp Marine and PPL Holdings premised on equal shareholding no longer applied when Sembcorp Marine increased its shareholding from 50% to 85% in PPLS. The Court of Appeal, however, did not agree that Sembcorp Marine had the right to terminate the Joint Venture Agreement. The cross appeal by PPL Holdings, including their claim to the right to appoint the Managing Director, was dismissed entirely. The Court of Appeal also ruled that certain resolutions passed by Sembcorp Marine’s nominated PPLS directors were valid and not in breach of the provisions in the Joint Venture Agreement. The Sembcorp Marine nominated PPLS directors’ removal of Mr.

Chile's Supreme Court on Thursday rejected an application for an environmental organization against Crow River hydroelectric project, which plans to build in the south of the country with an initial investment of $ 733 million . In a unanimous ruling, the Third Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld an earlier judgment of the Court of Appeals of the Coyhaique region, in September last year dismissed an appeal against the Environmental Evaluation Service that area of ​​the country. The statement argued that the application for protection of the NGO Environmental Prosecutor Corporation is not the way to challenge the administrative decision of 640 generating project in Patagonia megavativos leading and Origin Energy Xstrata and Glencore through Southern Energy.

ITIC says professional indemnity cover essential in litigious shipping industry. International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) has warned that, in today’s increasingly litigious business environment, there is a growing need for shipping professionals to have third-party indemnity insurance cover. This can be the case even in those sectors where insurance has not previously been deemed necessary, and in cases where, despite a favourable outcome to legal proceedings, substantial costs may be unrecoverable.

On Thursday 8 January, a counter-piracy exercise was carried out jointly by the Seychelles Coast Guard, Air Force and Police together with the EU Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atalanta-, and the EU’s civilian maritime security capacity building Mission, EUCAP Nestor. The purpose of the exercise was twofold; firstly, to practice cooperation between the Coast Guard, Air Force, the Police and EUNAVFOR Atalanta a joint counter-piracy operation, and secondly to test procedures and routines linked to effective processing of suspected pirates and evidence handling at sea.