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.

Our event is free to attend, though subject to availability and registration through the LIDW website. Please be aware that registration for member hosted events on the LIDW24 event platform closes 48 hours before the event is due to take place. You can find the full programme of seminars and events taking place on the LIDW24 website here.

The small print

Registration for this event will be managed by TMB Events and LIDW. TMB Events and LIDW may process your data as described in the TMB Events privacy policy and in the LIDW privacy policy respectively.  The event will be hosted by Holman Fenwick Willan LLP (HFW), in conjunction with Quadrant Chambers and Twenty Essex and is being held at the London offices of HFW.

When you register for the event, you will be providing TMB Events with your personal data which will be shared with joint event hosts HFW, Quadrant Chambers and Twenty Essex. As the event is being hosted at the offices of HFW, to facilitate your access to the building, HFW will also share such personal data with MEC London Property 2 LP (MECLP), who are the building managers for 8 Bishopsgate, EC2N 4BQ. HFW, MECLP,  Quadrant Chambers and Twenty Essex will be data controllers of the personal data which is shared by TMB Events. For further information on how your personal data will be processed and the legal grounds being relied on to do so, please click on the link to each organisation's full privacy notice as follows:

TMB Events privacy policy 
LIDW privacy policy 
HFW privacy policy 
Quadrant Chambers privacy notice 
Twenty Essex privacy notice 
MECLP privacy notice