Summerskill on Laytime, 7th Edition

Summerskill on Laytime, a key and established title in this specialist field, comprehensively covers laytime and demurrage under English law. Ideal for practitioners in the field, this title presents the principles behind laytime, the standard clauses, interruptions, suspensions, demurrage, detention and dispatch.

The seventh edition updates the text to take account of key case law, including:

• The Court of Appeal decisions in Limbungan v Classic Maritime and in K Line v Priminds (The Eternal Bliss)
• At first instance, in The Aconcagua Bay the “always accessible” clause has been held to cover leaving a berth as well as entering it, contrary to what had previously been decided by the tribunal in London Arbitration 11/97.
• The effect of owners’ breach of contract in caring for the cargo on the amount of demurrage incurred by charterers was considered in The Santa Isabella.
• In the Muammer Yagci the laytime exception of ‘government interferences’ in cl28 of the 1999 Sugar Charterparty was held to cover seizure of cargo by the customs authorities in Algiers following the identification of a discrepancy between the cargo and the relevant documents presented by the receivers.
• There have been several decisions on the applicability of time bar provisions for bringing demurrage claims, including: The MTM Hong Kong, The Amalie Essberger, The MT Maria, The Ocean Neptune, and Glencore v OMV.
• London Arbitration 13/19, where the Tribunal found that a Notice of Readiness cannot be validly given when the vessel is still on the move
• London Arbitration 19/18 where the Tribunal found that consequential delay on the vessel’s arrival at the discharging port due to delay on completing loading due to engine problems did not interrupt demurrage as the fault of the shipowner needed to be contemporaneous with the delay
• and the effect of bad weather on loading and discharging operations in London Arbitration 12/19 and London Arbitration 21/19