06/05/2020

Prevention principle & notification requirements to move delivery and cancellation dates – SAJ Form

Andrew Dinsmore recently appeared for successful shipowners in a s. 69 application concerning the prevention principle and the requirement to give notice or communicate to move the Delivery Date under the SAJ Form.

The Commercial Court has handed down judgment in Jiangsu Guoxin Corporation Ltd (formerly known as Sainty Marine Corporation Ltd) v Precious Shipping Public Co. Ltd [2020] EWHC 1030 (Comm), in which Butcher J held that the prevention principle did not apply to an amended SAJ Form and that a shipyard must give notice or communicate under various provisions in the amended SAJ Form to move the Delivery (and Cancellation) Date.

Andrew is part of the counsel team in the underlying arbitrations led by Duncan Matthews QC, with Josephine Davies and Michal Hain, which recently completed a four-week hearing in March 2020 where arrangements had to be made to address COVID-19 risks, as noted in ‘Arbitration in a time of COVID-19: my experience so far’, by Josephine Davies.

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