Overview

In a judgment handed down on 11 June 2010, the English High Court dismissed an attempt by charterers Cosco to place a vessel off‑hire during a three and a half month period when she was seized by Somali pirates. This was an appeal by charterers on a point of law from an arbitration award (under s. 69 Arbitration Act 1996). Such appeals are possible where the arbitration award is either ‘obviously wrong’ or, where the case is one of ‘general public importance’ and the decision is ‘open to serious doubt’. Presumably because (i) the charter was contained on the standard printed New York Produce Exchange 1946 (NYPE 46) form and (ii) the dispute related to the highly topical subject of Somali piracy, the English Court gave the charterers permission to appeal. However, having done so, the Court proceeded to dismiss that appeal in no uncertain terms.

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