ENG    CHN

In the case The Athena (2012), the Commercial Court on appeal held the arbitrators were wrong in law to decide the vessel was off hire for the time the vessel did not follow the charterer’s instructions to sail to a port in Libya, as there was no eventual loss of time to the charterers in view the vessel would still have waited at anchorage and not entered port in Libya due to port congestion.

Mr. Justice Walker in the Commercial Court summarized the following requirements in determining whether the vessel is off hire.

1. The vessel is prevented from fully performing the service immediately required by the charterer
2. That the reason for the vessel being prevented from fully performing the service immediately required by the charterer, falls within one of the enumerated causes in clause 15 entitling the vessel to be off hire.
3. If the above two conditions are fulfilled, whether time was thereby lost to the charterers.

See attached file: ALCO20130043 Off hire under NYPE.pdf

纽约土产格式合同中的停租问题

在 2012 年的 The Athena 案例中，船舶没有按照租家的指示开往利比亚港口，仲裁员据此判决这段时间租家可以停租。而上诉商事法院认为在法律上仲裁员是错误的。由于塞港，船舶即使到了利比亚港口也不得不在锚地等待，无法进港，因此租家事实上没有时间损失。

商事法院法官Mr. Justice Walker将船舶是否可以停租的要件总结如下：

1. 船舶无法立即全面执行租家要求的任务
2. 船舶无法立即全面执行租家所要求任务的原因属于合同15条中列明的船东有权停租事由中的某一项。
3. 上述两个条件都满足的情况下，还要判断租家是否因此确实有时间损失。

详细信息请参阅附件。