Twenty Four hours is a long time in a falling market

A shipbroker fixed an extension of a charter in direct continuation. However, the broker working the account had forgotten to include the charterer’s “subject to 24 hours reconfirmation” in the negotiation.

When a clean recap was received from owner’s broker, charterers immediately replied that they had asked for 24 hours sub reconfirmation on the business.

The owners refused, as the subject was not part of the negotiations that they had seen and considered themselves fully fixed.

Charterers failed to perform the extension and redelivered the ship to the owners. The owners fixed the ship to a different charterer, but the period of the new charter was shorter and the rate was lower.

The owners brought a damages claim against charterers and the charterers in turn brought a claim against the shipbroker.

ITIC paid the amount of USD 140,000 in settlement.