London Arbitration 6/21- performance and off spec bunkers

Owners sought to defend the speed and performance claim by asserting that the Charterers supplied bunkers being off-specification. However, as per this decision, trivial differences in fuel specification were not enough to bar a speed claim against the Owners in particular, as here, there was a significant loss of time. Therefore, the vessel’s good weather speed was considerably below her warranted speed.

This reasoning applied also to a previous court case and can extend to weather elements or non-weather elements, as found in the performance clause.