QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION
COMMERCIAL COURT
Strand, London, WC2A 2LL |
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B e f o r e :
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ED & F MAN SUGAR LIMITED |
Claimant |
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- and - |
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BELMONT SHIPPING LIMITED |
Defendant |
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Edward Ho (instructed by Ince and Co.) for the Defendant
Hearing dates: 28 October 2011
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Crown Copyright ©
Mr. Justice Teare :
The material facts with regard to the demurrage claim
The Written Submissions
The Award
"13. However, the Claimants did not deliver a further Notice of Readiness after the vessel had been approved at 1140 on Sunday 20 September. We consider that the Respondents are correct that if the Claimants had then delivered a Notice of Readiness, it would have been effective at 0800 on 21 September with the result that laytime would have commenced at 1400 that day. We therefore find that at Santos the vessel was on demurrage for 1 day 7 hours 50 minutes at a cost of US$13,263.89. The Respondents did not rely upon the decision in the Happy Day [2002] 2 Lloyd's Rep 487 so the potential consequences of that decision have not affected our conclusion."
The arguments, in summary
"If an arbitrator appreciates that a party has missed a point then fairness requires the arbitrator to raise it so that the party can deal with it."
"It is not, I think, for the arbitral tribunal to hunt through the contract and find other ways in which the claimant's claim might be put, and then offer the claimant a further opportunity to make submissions on any provision thereby identified. In an adversarial system it is for the claimant to identify the ways in which it puts its case."
Discussion
"(i) The tribunal shall-
(a) act fairly and impartially as between the parties, giving each party a reasonable opportunity of putting his case and dealing with that of his opponent."