The Supreme Court ruling in the POLAR and its implications for war risks disputes between shipowners, charterers and cargo interests.

Please join our panel discussing the Supreme Court ruling in the Herculito Maritime Ltd v. Gunvor International BV [2024] UKSC 2 and its wide-ranging implications for owners, charterers, bill of lading holders and their respective insurers.  The ruling, which clarified the scope and effect of charterparty war risks clauses said to be incorporated into bills of lading, is likely to have current significance because of the Houthi rebel attacks occurring in the Red Sea.
 
The panel will discuss the MT POLAR which was seized by Somali pirates in 2010 whilst transiting the Gulf of Aden.  A ransom was paid for the vessel’s release and the shipowner sought to recover cargo's proportion of the ransom in General Average.  Cargo interests argued, unsuccessfully, that the war risks clauses in the charterparty amounted to a complete insurance code in the bills of lading such that shipowners should recover their losses from their insurers and could not recover from cargo interests.

Guy Blackwood KC led Oliver Caplin KC for the successful shipowners, their H&M and their K&R underwriters instructed by HFW's Richard Neylon and Jenny Salmon.

The event will be hosted by HFW, in conjunction with Quadrant Chambers and Twenty Essex, and is being held at the London offices of HFW. Registration for this event will be managed by TMB Events and LIDW through the LIDW24 website.