The Court of Appeal has considered when the market measure of damages will be displaced in cases of non-delivery of goods.

The issue in this case was whether the Claimant could rely on s.79 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (the "Act") to extend a time limit under the arbitration rules of the Coffee Trade Federation Limited (the "CTF").

On appeal from a Commercial Court decision, the Court of Appeal has overturned part of the first instance Judge’s decision and held that a shipowner could recover the costs of storing cargo whilst exercising a lien for general average security.

This was an appeal from an arbitration award on a point of construction in relation to the wording of an addendum to a charterparty.

In an important ruling for the maritime industry, Mr Justice Gross of the London Commercial Court has upheld the unanimous decision of an eminent arbitration tribunal that a vessel chartered on the NYPE 46 form which was seized by pirates remained on hire whilst under the control of the pirates.

Breffka & Hehnke GmbH & Co KG and others v. Navire Shipping Co. Ltd and others (Saga Explorer) [2012] EWHC 3124 (Comm)

It is common practice for traders, usually when they are the sellers of the goods and the charterers of a vessel, to instruct the carrier to discharge cargoes without production of the original bills of lading and to agree to indemnify the carrier against the consequences of doing so.

Where owners are considering withdrawing a vessel on time charter for non-payment of hire, timing is critical.

In common with many disputes that have gone to court or arbitration in the past three years, this one took place against the background of the financial crisis in late 2008 when the market for both charter rates and bunker prices dropped considerably.

In a judgment handed down on 27 April 2012, Mr Justice Cooke has held that, in circumstances where the time charterers were in repudiatory breach of charterparty in purporting to redeliver the vessel early, the owners were entitled to refuse early redelivery, affirm the charterparty and hold the charterers liable for hire for the balance of the minimum period of the charterparty.

The Court of Appeal in this case has considered whether reference in a bill of lading to the incorporation of a "law and arbitration clause" was effective to incorporate a law and court jurisdiction (not arbitration) clause in a charterparty.

This Commercial Court decision highlights some interesting issues arising in the context of a sale of goods dispute.

Hin-Pro, a Hong Kong freight forwarder, alleged that the carrier, CSAV, wrongly delivered cargo without production of original bills of lading in various ports in Venezuela.

The trend in US litigation has previously appeared to show a reluctance to encourage jurisdiction shopping.

This dispute arose out of the industry wide contamination of Ukrainian sunflower oil with mineral oil in 2008.

The Court of Appeal has held that a cargo owner who had entered into a CMR contract of carriage with a carrier based in England, and who had agreed exclusive English jurisdiction for disputes arising out of the contract of carriage, could bring proceedings in England not only against that carrier, but also against successive carriers to whom the primary carrier had delegated the responsibility of the carriage in question.

The decision of the Commercial Court in London in ACG Acquisition XX LLC v Olympic Airlines SA in a judgment delivered on 21 April 2010 will have sent shockwaves through the operating lessor community.

The dispute in this case arose following a collision that caused damage to a vessel and a number of its containers while it was en route to Turkey.

In the first reported LMAA arbitration decision of 2011, the Tribunal considered a time charterparty on an amended NYPE 1946 form and whether the charterers were entitled to add 159 days off-hire onto the basic charter period.

The immediate impact of the Convention is likely to be limited but it nonetheless represents a step towards global uniformity in this currently inconsistent area of law and practice.