Having a ‘no lien’ stamp printed on a bunker delivery note (BDN) by itself does not protect the owners as it is ‘too late’ for any legal effect in the event of the buyer’s insolvency, says the Senior Partner at Singapore-based law firm JosephtanJudeBenny (JTJB).
Danny Chua was responding to a delegate question at IBIA Annual Convention 2017 which enquired of the payment due to a bunker supplier in the event the charterer [buyer] becoming liquidated.
The scenario revolved around bunkers being purchased by the charterer and delivered a few days later, with the vessel stamping ‘no lien’ on the BDN on behalf of the vessel owner.
‘The legal effect of a no lien stamp frankly comes too late after the contract because at the time the contract is made it will probably be through the exchange of emails and the final fixture,’ Chua explained.
‘That will be the point at which the contract will have a reason [to exist] and by the time this stamp is placed, possibly by the Chief Engineer on board, it will have come way too late from the day the contract is made.’
In any case assuming the insolvent bunker buyers are time charterers of the vessel, the vessel itself will also not be liable for bunker claims, notes Chua.
‘Bunker suppliers can only go after the insolvent time charterers but not against the end purchasers unless in jurisdictions that allow a maritime lien on supplies which is not the case here in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the UK,’ he says.
Chua specialises in Shipping & Admiralty Law and was involved in the (Precious Shipping Public Co Ltd and others v. OW Bunker Far East (Singapore) Pte Ltd and others and other matters [2015] 4 SLR 1229) case.
Well within Malaysia’s right to draw any port limit in its territorial sea in accordance with its own national laws.
Duty officer onboard spotted hose connected from an open DO tank manhole to barge alongside ship.
Total of 17 men arrested, together with $2.29 million in cash and 12,000 dwt tanker seized.
Vessel earlier known as Bossoil 1 the subject of a bunker claim by Singapore-based Staroil Energy Pte Ltd.
KM Tenggiri was behaving aggressively and ignored the navy’s first two warning shots, forcing them to fire at the vessel’s left hull as it escaped into Singapore waters.
Valero sold contaminated bunkers to more than 150 vessels in Texas from 1 January to 31 May 2018, it claims.
‘The JMs have failed to discharge their duties by blindly helping the Banks mount a false case against the Defendant,’ wrote defence lawyers representing former IPP Director Dr Goh Jian Hian in court statement.
Lead prosecutor Andreas Myllerup Laursen aims for a fine and a prison sentence in the so-called Syria case scheduled to commence in Odense, Denmark on 26 October, writes the Danish publication.
In a modern re-telling of the story of David versus Goliath, local bunker barge owners/charterers successfully resisted claims brought in the Singapore courts by Phillips 66 for misdelivery of bunkers.
Bunker barge owners and operators; traders and suppliers; banks, including players in other countries, will have to re-examine respective operations, advises Helmsman Associate Director Jonathan Tan.
Vopak BL was a non-essential document with no contractual force and had no effect as a contract of carriage or as a document of title, states written Judgement issued by Singapore Court of Appeal.
Dwivedi Vivek Kumar ended his tenure as Global Head – Bitumen & Shipping & Regional Head – APAC at GP Global APAC on 10 November 2020 due to internal structuring of the GP Global Group.
