Time Bars in Charter Parties - I

   In context of Voyage Charter Party , there are certain claims/costs which can be recovered from Charterers under that CP. It is very imperative that the documentation and time limitation requirements are strictly adhered to, otherwise Charterers' may have a valid reason to time bar that claim.

  In general, the commercial intention is to ensure that claims are made by the Owners within a short period of final discharge, so that they they can investigated and settled while the facts are still fresh. [ Mr. Justice Bingham in The Oltenia]

   Different Charter Parties have different period allowances for submitting a claim, and quite often, such periods are discussed and agreed upon in the pre-fixture stage.

1. How broadly can the time bar clause be interpreted?

  It is important to note the wording of the clause, as some Charter Parties require a Notice of demurrage to be sent, and followed by the actual claim with all supporting documents, for example, in case of Chevron Terms, which are additional Terms to the Asbatankvoy CP. Another example is the wording in BP Voyage CPs, which normally says:"substantiating each and every constituent part of the claim". This means that each commencement of time, deduction, completion of time etc should be duly supported by the necessary documents. In case of ShellVoy Charter Parties, they require additional signatures on the load/discharge port timesheets.
  An important and oft quoted case with regards to the strictness of the documentation requirement is that of "The Obo Venture"[1992]. It was a requirement of the CP that signed Charter Parties were to be provided for complete submission of the demurrage claim. As the Owners had failed to fulfill this requirement, the claim was time barred.

One aspect to be kept in mind is that the Charterers' may require the full documentation to recover costs from their third parties, and the Courts may look at this angle also while deciding on a time bar issue.

However, Owners can take comfort in that fact that, as the result of not adhering to the time limit can be quite severe, the Courts are consistent that a time bar clause should be un-ambiguous. Hence, any ambiguity in the time bar clause goes in favor of the Ship Owner under the Contra Proferentem Rule.

2. Can I revise my claim after the time bar?

 Yes, you can. Unless there is such a drastic revision that the claim after revision takes on the form of an entirely new claim and with new supporting documents.

Below is a snapshot of the time bars in common Tanker Charter Parties and their Clauses. I will discuss a few more questions and about Bulker time bars in my next post on the same topic. Till then.. Namaste! 

 

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