Voyage Charterparty
Laytime. Duty to procure the berth ‘reachable on arrival’ - The Laura Prima [1982] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 1
The Angelos Lusis [1964] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 28
The President Brand [1967] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 338
The Delian Spirit [1971] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 506
The Laura Prima [1982] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 1
Asbatankvoy
6. NOTICE OF READINESS.
Upon arrival at customary anchorage at each port of loading or discharge, the Master or his agent shall give the Charterer or his agent notice by letter, telegraph, wireless or telephone that the Vessel is ready to load or discharge cargo, berth or no berth, and laytime, as hereinafter provided, shall commence upon the expiration of six (6) hours after receipt of such notice, or upon the Vessel’s arrival in berth (i.e., finished mooring when at a sealoading or discharging terminal and all fast when loading or discharging alongside a wharf), whichever first occurs. However, where delay is caused to vessel getting into berth after giving notice of readiness for any reason over which Charterer has no control, such delay shall not count as used laytime.
In The Laura Prima [1982] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 1 and later in The Fjordaas and in The Sea Queen the court rejected charterers’ efforts to shift the burden of financial loss to the owners for delays associated with the berth being not reachable on arrival due to the reasons outside of charterers’ control.
9. SAFE BERTHING-SHIFTING.
The vessel shall load and discharge at any safe place or wharf, or alongside vessels or lighters reachable on her arrival, which shall be designated and procured by the Charterer, provided the Vessel can proceed thereto, lie at, and depart therefrom always safely afloat, any lighterage being at the expense, risk and peril of the Charterer. The Charterer shall have the right of shifting the Vessel at ports of loading and/or discharge from one safe berth to another on payment of all towage and pilotage shifting to next berth, charges for running lines on arrival at and leaving that berth, additional agency charges and expenses, customs overtime and fees, and any other extra port charges or port expenses incurred by reason of using more than one berth. Time consumed on account of shifting shall count as used laytime except as otherwise provided in Clause 15.
The effect of words in cl. 6 (NOTICE OF READINESS) of ASBATANKVOY: ‘… where delay is caused to Vessel getting into berth after giving notice or readiness for any reason over which Charterer has no control, such delay shall not count as used laytime’ was held to give protection to the charterers only when they satisfied requirements of cl.9 which impose on them a duty to procure place reachable on arrival.
‘Reachable on arrival’ is a well-known phrase and means precisely what it says. If a berth cannot be reached on arrival, the warranty is broken unless there is some relevant protecting exception. The analogy from the requirement of safety does not assist. The berth is required to have two characteristics: it has to be safe and it has also to be reachable on arrival.
By Lord Roskill in Nereide SpA di Navigazione v Bulk Oil International Ltd (The Laura Prima) [1981] 3 All ER 737, [1982] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 1
It is immaterial whether delay in getting into the berth ‘reachable on arrival’ was caused by low water, fog, weather restrictions or by any other physical or non-physical reason such as e.g. unavailability of tugs, prohibition of night navigation by port authorities or strike of the oil terminal employees, the combined effect of cl. 6 and cl. 9 of ASBATANKVOY was held to be such that, unless expressly excluded, it rest the liability for any mentioned delay upon the charterers. Some recent arbitration cases show that ‘reachable on arrival’ provision may well be used when vessel visit such ports as Lagos or Qingdao where waiting place is well outside of port limits, to deprive the charterers from the benefit of unused laytime.
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