Maritime law 1

Vessel and flag: M/V Violet Star, registered in Panama, managed from Piraeus. We do not yet know who the beneficial owner is.

Voyage and ports: Busan to Valletta, discharged 12 March.

Parties and documents: Our client is the buyer and consignee. Clean bills of lading which incorporate charterparty terms we have not seen. There is also a sale contract and a cargo policy.

Event or loss: 38 of 240 steel coils show wetting and salt-water staining. The carrier blames rain; the terminal blames condensation.

Potential forum and urgent steps: The forum depends on the bill and any incorporated clause. Before anything else, arrange a joint survey, notify the insurers and keep the samples.

Vessel and flag: M/V Violet Star, Panama flag, Greek management. Registration should not be assumed to indicate beneficial ownership, and the identity of the carrier remains to be established from the bill.

Voyage and ports: Busan to Valletta, discharge completed 12 March, which is the date from which any time bar is likely to run.

Parties and documents: Buyer and lawful holder; clean bills incorporating unidentified charterparty terms, the effect of which depends on the incorporation wording; sale contract; cargo policy; delivery receipts bearing brief reservations.

Event or loss: Wetting to 38 coils. Causation is disputed between rain during discharge and condensation, neither of which has yet been tested against the ventilation records.

Potential forum and urgent steps: Subject to the incorporated terms, the forum may be arbitration rather than a court. The immediate priorities are a joint survey, preservation of samples and records, notification of insurers, and confirmation of the time bar.

Subject: M/V Violet Star: immediate steps and preliminary advice

Dear Mr Vella,

Thank you for your call this morning. On the present information, our first objective is to protect the evidence. We cannot yet say who is responsible for the wetting, and nothing in this email should be read as a view on liability.

Please arrange immediately for the affected coils to be segregated where practical, and for the packaging and any samples to be kept. Please also invite the carrier and the terminal to a joint survey, take photographs before the coils are moved again, and obtain the hatch and ventilation records, the weather data, the discharge logs and the delivery receipts. Please also record where the affected coils were stowed, and ask the terminal for the ventilation and hatch-opening times during discharge. Please do not dispose of anything or agree to any settlement until we have advised.

Please send me the complete bill of lading, the booking terms, the charterparty if it is incorporated, the sale contract and the insurance policy. From those documents we will identify the lawful holder, the carrier, the governing law, the jurisdiction or arbitration clause, the applicable cargo regime and the notice provisions. If the charterparty is not with your papers, please ask your seller for a copy.

Time limits in cargo claims are often short, and some run from the date of delivery. We will confirm the position once we have the bill, but please treat this as urgent.

In the meantime, please notify your cargo insurers and avoid any admission to the carrier or the terminal. All rights are reserved.

Kind regards,
Claims Team

Subject: M/V Violet Star: preservation of evidence and preliminary advice

Dear Mr Vella,

Further to our call, this email sets out the immediate steps and a provisional view. It should be read as preliminary only. No conclusion on liability can safely be drawn until the survey and the documents are available.

The immediate objective is preservation. I should be grateful if you would segregate the affected coils where practical, retain the packaging and samples, and invite the carrier and the terminal to a joint survey on a without-prejudice basis. Photographs should be taken before the coils are moved again, and the hatch and ventilation records, weather data, discharge logs and delivery receipts should be secured now rather than requested later.

As regards the documents, please send the complete bill of lading, the booking note, the charterparty if incorporated, the sale contract and the cargo policy. Those documents will determine the lawful holder, the identity of the carrier, the governing law, the forum, the applicable cargo regime, the period of responsibility and any notice requirement. It would also assist to record the position of the damaged coils within the stow, since the pattern of wetting may itself indicate the source.

Three points require particular care. First, the bills are described as clean, which affects the evidential position on shipment but does not resolve causation. Secondly, the carrier’s account and the terminal’s account cannot both be correct, and the ventilation records may prove decisive between them. Thirdly, time bars in cargo claims may be short and may run from delivery, so the position should be confirmed before any further step is taken.

Please notify cargo insurers and avoid admissions. We will revert with a considered view once the survey report and the documents are to hand. All rights are reserved.

Kind regards,
Claims Team

Common ground: Both sides agree that the notice of readiness was tendered on Monday at 08:00 and that loading finished on Thursday.

Disputed periods: 29 hours. The owners say laytime ran continuously. We say the ship was not legally ready when the notice was given, and that the rain period is excluded under the clause.

Documents needed: Pumping logs, weather records, the statement of facts and the port log.

Contract wording: The demurrage clause and the definition of a safe berth. We need to check whether weather working days are used.

Commercial proposal: Without prejudice, offer to split the disputed hours if the documents are produced this week.

Common ground: It is accepted that notice was tendered at 08:00 on Monday and that cargo operations were completed on Thursday. Nothing beyond those facts is agreed.

Disputed periods: 29 hours, of which roughly nine fall within the rain period. The owners contend that laytime ran continuously; our position is that the vessel was neither legally nor physically ready at the time of tender, with the result that the notice was invalid.

Documents needed: Statement of facts, pumping and ullage records, weather data, the port log and any berth-congestion correspondence. These should be requested on a without-prejudice basis rather than by formal disclosure at this stage.

Contract wording: The laytime definition, the exceptions clause and the safe-berth wording. Particular attention should be given to whether weather working days apply, since that alone may dispose of the rain period.

Commercial proposal: Without prejudice and subject to instructions, a split of the disputed hours, conditional on production of the logs within seven days.