Olam International Limited v Pacific Basin Supramax Limited the ‘Grande Island’

Facts

The owner, Pacific Basin Supramax Limited, chartered the motor vessel 'Grande Island' to the charterer, Olam International Limited, under a time trip charterparty contained in and evidenced by a recapitulation email dated 26 October 2021, on an amended New York Produce Exchange form, for a trip from Ghent to Nigeria with a cargo of bulk wheat. The recap incorporated the BIMCO Piracy Clause for Time Charter Parties 2013 as clause 81, but with sub-clauses (a) and (b) expressly deleted, together with a bespoke Nigerian trading clause providing for armed naval guards and for the vessel to wait offshore if Port Harcourt was congested or the Calabar berth was not free. The vessel arrived at the discharge port of Warri but could not berth, and the owner, fearing piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, ordered her to leave the Warri roads and return to Lagos, from 14.00 on 13 December to 15.00 on 16 December 2021. The charterer claimed the vessel was off-hire for that period under clause 17. Arbitrators in London, by an award dated 2 January 2025, held that leaving Warri was a reasonable preventative measure within clause 81(c)(i), so the vessel remained on hire. The charterer appealed under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996, permission having been granted by HHJ Pelling KC on 9 June 2025.