Fixture failure

A commercial management agreement provided that the managers could not fix the ship for more than a specific number of days without approval. The managers failed to obtain express approval for a
fixture which (at its longest permitted period) could extend beyond the authority they had been given.

When the market rose towards the end of the fixture the owners claimed for difference between the fixture rate and the prevailing market. The managers protested that the owners had been aware of the fixture but there was nothing in writing before the fixture was made and they had not followed the process set out in the ship management agreement.

A compromise was reached.