The Commercial Court has held that a shipowner was entitled to rely on a force majeure clause in a shipping contract where its charterer’s parent company became subject to US sanctions – allowing an appeal from an arbitration award on a point of law under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996: MUR Shipping BV v RTI Ltd [2022] EWHC 467 (Comm).
The decision is of particular interest as the court allowed reliance on force majeure despite the fact that the sanctions did not directly bite on the shipowners, but rather would be likely to delay US dollar payments which in turn meant that shipowners were not prepared to go ahead with performance of the contract.
Our post on the decision be found here on the HSF Litigation Notes blog.
For more information, please contact Chris Bushell, Partner, Susannah Cogman, Partner, Anna Pertoldi, Partner, Maura McIntosh, Professional Support Consultant, or your usual Herbert Smith Freehills contact.
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