Mashchenko & Partners together with colleagues from Rosling King LLP successfully completed the case in London arbitration in a dispute between the shipowner and the charterer.
The shipowner demanded compensation from the charterer for the time the vessel was waiting in the Turkish Straits for an inspection by the Joint Coordination Center, which worked within the framework of the Grain Initiative in 2023, the participants of which were Ukraine, russia, Turkey, under the auspices of the UN.
The vessel stood for almost a month waiting for the inspection, which never took place due to sabotage by representatives of the russian federation, who were part of the inspection teams, then the russian federation withdrew from the agreement and began missile attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea ports participating in the Initiative (Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny). As a result of the attacks, our Client’s grain cargo, for the transportation of which the vessel was chartered, was also damaged. The charterer was forced to abandon the carriage.
Our arguments in favor of the charterer consisted in proving the occurrence of circumstances that led to the termination of the charter agreement. The shipowner, in turn, referred to the provisions of the charter party, which provided grounds for collecting compensation from the charterer for the waiting time if the charterer abandoned the carriage.
After the parties exchanged submissions and written evidence, the shipowner offered the charterer a settlement agreement. As a result of the negotiations, the shipowner refused almost half of the amount claimed for collection, which included the cost of downtime provided for by the charter, as well as claims for reimbursement of legal expenses and claims for the collection of interest from the charterer on the amount of the debt.
The parties concluded a settlement agreement that satisfied both parties. As a result of the agreement reached, the arbitration process was closed.
The charterer's interests in this case were represented by managing partner: Andrii Mashchenko and senior associate Vlada Mashchenko. On the side of Rosling King, by senior partner- Georgina Squire, senior associate - Luke McGrath.