| Award 1252

Chartering – Charterer – Vessel delayed on departure due to the belated issuance of phytosanitary certificates – Effects – Charterer’s liability – The charterer’s creditor company – Seizure of the vessel – Unjustified seizure – Shared liability.
According to a voyage charter, a vessel was chartered to transport wheat from Russia to Guinea. In Russia, once loading was completed, the vessel had to wait for 6 days for the phytosanitary certificates concerning the goods to be issued. Liability for the resulting immobilization of the vessel was attributed to the charterer, in charge of all goods-related documents, and the immobilization was indemnified on the basis of an amount equivalent to the demurrage. When it arrived in Guinea a third-party company claiming to be the charter’s creditor asked the local Court to seize the vessel. Contrary to all expectations, the seizure was approved and the vessel was immobilized for nearly 16 days. The Arbitral Tribunal decided that while the unlawful seizure was not in itself grounds for apportioning liability to either party, liability could validly be apportioned for the handling of the ensuing crisis on non-contractual grounds, as the dispute between the parties was outside the scope of the contractual framework. The arbitrators considered that the highly particular and unprecedented situation to their knowledge required the parties to collaborate, because in their capacity as professionals of maritime operations they knew the costs of immobilizing a vessel and were duty bound to help reduce them. On the one hand, the shipowner could not put the liability back for the seizure on the charterer nor wait, as it did, to apply for the lifting of the seizure. And by refusing to grant a cross-guarantee, the charterer did not facilitate resolution of the dispute. Hence the shared liability of the parties.