Defence 02 Sep, 2021 “Arrived ship”, NORs and demurrage time bars: owners beware! Nicola Cox Head of Defence Claims Steven Knaggs Senior Claims Manager A recent unpublished LMAA arbitration award* for one of the Club’s owner Members has concluded that, where a vessel tenders NOR too early, not only does laytime not start to count because the NOR is invalid, but owners are also not able to claim damages for breach of charterers’ “reachable on arrival” obligation. Download PDF Owners had tendered the NOR too early, namely at the end of the sea passage, before the vessel had reached customary anchorage. It is well established under English case law that an NOR that is invalid because it is tendered too early is a “nullity” and cannot be used or relied on to trigger the commencement of laytime and demurrage when, subsequently, the vessel becomes an “arrived ship”. However, what is not clear is why the giving of an NOR that is invalid because she has not yet “arrived” prevents owners from claiming damages for a breach of charterers’ “reachable on arrival” obligation. (Owners pleaded their damages claim at the demurrage rate, making deductions for allowed laytime.) Moreover, the tribunal found that charterers’ silence after they received owners’ (invalid) NOR did not amount to waiver on charterers’ part as to the validity of the NOR. Therefore the tribunal held that laytime only commenced when the vessel subsequently berthed, in accordance with Asbatankvoy clause 6 (”laytime… shall commence upon th the expiration of six (6) hour after receipt of such notice, or upon the Vessel’s arrival in berth... whichever first occurs”). This means that a charterer can receive an NOR which they know (or believe) to be defective with impunity, knowing that, if the charterer says nothing and the owner does not serve another (this time, valid) NOR, laytime will only commence sometime later, ”upon Vessel’s arrival in berth”. It flies in the face of previous cases which spoke, in this conte