i-law

Voyage Charters

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Chapter 42

Hoses – Mooring at Sea Terminals
11. HOSES: MOORING AT SEA TERMINALS. Hoses for loading and discharging shall be furnished by the Charterer and shall be connected and disconnected by the Charterer, or, at the option of the Owner, by the Owner at the Charterer’s risk and expense. Laytime shall continue until the hoses have been disconnected. When Vessel loads or discharges at a sea terminal, the Vessel shall be properly equipped at Owner’s expense for loading or discharging at such place, including suitable ground tackle, mooring lines and equipment for handling submarine hoses.

Hoses

42.1 The clause supplements the provisions of clause 10, and makes it clear that leakages from the hoses connecting ship and shore pipes, or from the hose connections, are not the responsibility of the owner. By providing that time runs until hoses have been disconnected the clause avoids arguments that time should cease running as soon as cargo movement is complete, or that it should continue until documents are presented.1 Most voyage charters for liquid cargoes contain express provision on this question, but in the absence of any such provision time will cease to run when cargo movement into or out of the vessel has ceased, and (on loading) the cargo is in a state in which it can be carried. Cargo movement will not necessarily cease simultaneously with the cessation of pumping, and if, on loading, the cargo hoses drain into the vessel, time will continue until the draining of the hoses is complete.2

Mooring at sea terminals

42.2 It is common practice for a port or terminal to have extensive technical requirements detailing equipment which must be supplied by a loading or discharging vessel. When the vessel loads or discharges at an off-shore loading terminal, she is to be equipped at the owner’s expense with whatever is necessary to load or discharge at such a place. Obviously, the equipment which will be necessary will vary depending on the location and nature of the particular off-shore terminal, but it is submitted that the provisions of the clause will be satisfied where the owner has obtained a list of required equipment from the charterer or terminal operator, and is in possession of all of this. 42.3 In The Yanxilas,3 Bingham J. upheld the findings of a majority of three arbitrators that a term should be implied into a tanker charterparty in similar form to Asbatankvoy that

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the shipowner should use reasonable diligence in giving information concerning the vessel or her equipment. In that case, the shipowner had supplied incorrect information regarding the vessel’s dimensions to the charterer, as a result of which the terminal had refused berthing. Normally, the shipowner may be responsible for acquiring information about the requirements of a terminal named in the charter, but at least where the terminal is simply nominated by the charterers, the charterer may be impliedly obliged to see that the vessel is supplied with sufficient information to enable her properly to equip herself.

U.S. Law

“Hoses for loading and discharging shall be furnished … at the Charterer's risk and expense”

42A.1 Clause 11 has been interpreted to mean that any damage to discharging hoses is at the charterer’s risk and expense. In addition, hull cleaning expenses incurred not for the vessel’s benefit, but as a requirement of LOOP authorities to protect the facility’s discharge hoses, were held to be for the charterer’s account.4 But see The Happy Empress,5 where the majority rejected the owner’s argument that the charterer should have provided metal hoses and, finding that the owner failed to provide a vessel in every respect fit for her voyage, denied the owner’s claim for hull cleaning time and expense which were viewed as part of the owner’s underlying duty to maintain the vessel in a safe and seaworthy condition.

“Laytime shall continue until the hoses have been disconnected”

42A.2 The period between completion of discharge and disconnection of the cargo hoses is for the charterer’s account and counts as laytime.6 In The Rosario Del Mar,7 the panel concluded that “the running of demurrage ceased with the disconnection of the cargo hoses.” However, this is not necessarily the case with respect to cargo operations at anchorages or lightering areas. In The Daphne,8 the panel held that laytime ceases not upon disconnection of barge hoses at anchorage but, rather, upon the barge’s departure from alongside the vessel, taking the position that while clause 11 provides that laytime ceases upon disconnection of hoses when the vessel is at a terminal, an anchorage or lighterage area is neither a “wharf” nor a “sea discharging terminal” within the meaning of clause 6. 42A.3 Similarly, see The Eptalofos,9 where the panel, noting that “(w)hile the customary and contractual point at which laytime ceases is when hoses are disconnected, this is not an absolute rule,” went on to hold that clause 11 can be superseded by actions or delays attributed to the charterer (i.e., delayed departure of the charterer’s lighter). Delays beyond disconnection of the hoses, caused by late delivery of cargo documents, were held for the charterer’s account in The Nicopolis 10 and The Azija.11

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“the Vessel shall be properly equipped at Owner's expense for loading or discharging … at a sea terminal”

42A.4 In The Mount Vernon Victory,12 the panel reviewed in detail the adequacy of the vessel’s cargo gear for loading at a sea terminal in compliance with clause 11 and port regulations.