UK Defence Club Soundings: A Question of Class

In the case of Silverburn Shipping (IoM) Ltd v Ark Shipping Company LLC (M.V. "Arctic") [2019] EWHC 374 (Comm), the High Court held that the owner was entitled to terminate a bareboat charter where the charterer had failed to maintain the ship's class for a short period of time while the ship was in dry dock.

The case provides clarification that a charterer's obligation to keep a ship in class under a Barecon charter is an absolute obligation and a condition of the contract. It also provides a warning of the importance of maintaining class under a bareboat charter at all times and the potentially drastic consequences of failing to do so.

Continue reading in the latest Soundings from UK Defence Club.

Learn more about this and other cases by visiting the 'Insights' section of the UK Defence Club's website.