Arrest Clause for Voyage Charter Parties 2019
07 December 2023Arrest clauses in charter parties are frequently one-sided with charterers having the right to terminate the charter party if the ship is not released within two or three days of an arrest. To provide a fairer allocation of risk and responsibility in the event of ship arrest BIMCO has developed two new standard clauses for time and voyage charter parties. Risk allocation is based on the “sphere of responsibilities” approach taken by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in the "Global Santosh" judgment . Under this approach, a distinction is drawn between issues such as the management of the ship and its crew, which fall within the owners’ sphere of responsibility, and employment for use of the ship which falls within the charterers’ sphere of responsibility. This clause was published on 14 June 2019.