MAJOR WITHDRAWAL

A ship manager was appointed to provide technical and crew management for a pair of newly-built tankers, which were fixed on period charters.

The charterparties stipulated that the ships should at all times be acceptable to oil majors, to whom the ships would be sub-chartered. Numerous deficiencies were logged on the SIRE (Ship Inspection Reports Exchange) report on the first ship, and she even collided with a berth. As a result, two oil majors put a ‘technical hold’ on all ships managed by the ship manager. The time charterer off-hired both vessels while the deficiencies were being rectified and the crews trained. The ship manager was found liable for loss of hire and expenses.

The final cost to the ship manager was US$105,000.

The manager could well have been liable for more, but it was considered that the owner had contributed to the problem by not giving the manager time to familiarise itself with the new ships.