Deck Logs: Binding Evidence or Not?

These disputes concern not only the interpretation of a specific contractual term but also the sufficiency and weight of the evidence.

A recurring question is: how can a tribunal enforce the provision that “evidence of deck logs shall be binding” when independent evidence shows that the logs are falsified, or even if it can be found that the logs are incomplete? In such circumstances, how can the logs be considered binding on the parties?

Owners argue that the tribunal must give effect to the contractual terms. Charterers, however, contend that this presupposes the evidence itself is reliable.

In this arbitration, Clause 44 provided that “The basis for determining the vessel's performance shall be the statistical data supplied by the Master”.

The Panel used their best efforts to determine whether or not this statistical data was of such questionable quality that the Clause should be disregarded and that performance should be judged by the standards suggested by the Charterer in these proceedings.

The Contract tied the vessel's performance to the statistical data supplied by the Master, thus placing upon Charterer the burden of proving that the data was erroneous.

The panel exercised their prerogative and accepted the Charterer's submission that the data, which we felt was more reliable than the Master's data, should apply. The Panel ignored the Master's data where it conflicted with the ship's data given to others for other purposes (weather reporting).

The Panel were more or less in complete disagreement with the Charterers' determination of distance travelled. They found, with minor exceptions, the logbooks to be a reliable source of information for assembling data in this area.

The panel agreed with neither side's allowances for exceptions from guaranteed speed on account of weather exceeding Force 5 on the Beaufort Scale. Then, they individually considered the evidence on weather and made allowances accordingly. After this long and tedious exercise, the Panel unanimously arrived at the speed at which the charter hire for the first and second year should be adjusted.

SMA 1494