A vessel was loading at port of Uglegorsk, Russia but due to the bad wintry weather conditions loading was intermittently stopped and after one month at load port, only 1,000 mt of cargo was loaded. It is not certain when weather conditions would improve and when the vessel would be able to complete loading. On account of no bunker facilities at the port of Uglegorsk, the vessel was dangerously running out of bunkers. The nearest port with bunker facilities was some distance away. The terms of the fixture or voyage charterparty state “Loading port: 1 SAP Uglegorsk”.
It is well established when the charterers name the ports at the time when the fixture is made, then the owners are considered to have a sufficient opportunity to check themselves whether the ports will be safe and no warranty of safety will be implied, but where the charterparty leaves it to charterers to nominate load and discharge ports then the law will imply a safe port warranty. The question in our case is whether any effect should be given to the word ‘1 safe port’ in a context where there is also a single named port. In the case of (The Achimidis)(2008) the fixture similarly was for loading at ‘1 safe port Ventspils’ but this issue was not discussed as there was agreement by counsels for both sides that the words ‘1 safe port’ amounts to the charterers giving a safe port warranty. We can therefore conclude that where a port is named but there is also an express warranty of safety as in our case, the result is the owners can rely on the charterers’ undertaking.
See attached file:ALCO20130001 Case Study – SAFE PORT.pdf
案例学习：安全港口
某船在俄罗斯Uglegorsk港装货，由于冬季恶劣天气，装货总是被中断，船在装港一个月，只装了一千吨货物。天气状况什么时候能好转以及船舶什么时候能完货还难以确定。由于Uglegorsk港无法加油，该船有耗尽存油的危险。能加油的最近港口离这有一段距离。租船合同规定：“装港：一个安全港口Uglegorsk”。
通常我们认为，如果租家在合同签订的时候已经明确了挂靠港口，船东就有足够的机会去核实这些港口是否安全，那么安全港口就不成为一个默示保证。但是如果合同规定订约后租家来指定装卸港，那么在法律上就认为，安全港口是一个默示保证。本案提出的问题是，“一个安全港口1SAFE PORT”这个措辞除了列明港口，是否对于案件有其它影响？在2008年的The Achimidis案例中，租约中也有类似的“一个安全港口1 safe port Ventspils”的规定，但是此案未就该问题进行讨论，因为双方律师就“一个安全港口”这一措辞达成一致，即租家保证港口安全。
详细信息请参阅附件。
