Sea Venture newsletter Issue 4 Introduction ........................................3 Conduct of Parties in Arbitration ..........................4 Belgium Honours Capt. Wei Jiafu and COSCO GROUP ........................4 Hurricane and Natural Disaster Carrier Liability for Damage to Cargo in the U.S.................................5 Cargo Interests - The Right To Be Sued..........................................6 No Emergency “Laundry List” For Charterers ....................................7 “Red in Tooth and Claw” ..................8 Charterers’ CQD Obligations ............9 “Supplytime 05”: BIMCO Finalises Its Revision of “Supplytime 89” ........9 Future events and the Impact on Damages....................................10 An Alternative Unsafe Port Claim ....10 When Does Laytime Commence? ..11 South Africa - Club LOU Adequate Security For Release Of Vessel ........12 U.S. - Foreign Arbitration Clause in Crew Contract Enforced..............14 Industrial Action v Free Movement of Workers & Services......................14 China - Emerging trends in Maritime Litigation ..........................15 Shipping Rice to West Africa Beware! ............................................16 EU Directive on Ship-Source Pollution - Open to Challenge? ......16 Developments in the CLC/Fund Conventions ....................17 Suspected MARPOL Violations in the U.S. - The Human Cost ........18 Panama - First Judgments In Claims Involving The Panama Canal Authority................................20 Trip Time Charter - A Guarantee of Income or Merely Duration? ............21 Maritime Pollution in Canada Extending the Reach and Power of Prosecutors......................21 U.S. - Developments in Rule B Attachment..........................22 Recent Publications ..........................23 Articles Published on the Steamship Mutual Website ................................23 Contents 2 Editorial Team Naomi Cohen Malcolm Shelmerdine Feedback and suggestions for future topics should be sent to seaventure@simsl.com The fourth edition of Sea Venture marks the first anniversary of the revised format of the Steamship Mutual newsletter. The feedback we have received during the year from members, brokers and correspondents has been overwhelmingly complimentary. In particular, the increased frequency of publication has been welcomed. 2005 was another good year for Steamship Mutual. The year opened with the Club’s ratio of free reserves to entered tonnage above the International Group average. During the year there has been solid growth in both measures, with owned entered tonnage passing the 40m GT mark and free reserves forecast to be over US$147m at 20th February 2006. The significant improvements in the pure underwriting surpluses for both 2003/04 and 2004/05 and the early prospect of a positive outcome for 2005/06 form the foundations of a sound financial position for the Club going into 2006. These developments, which are all discussed in the Mid Year Review published in November (www.simsl.com/Publications/ MidYearReview/MYR.asp), have enabled the Club’s Board to take the view that a 5% standard increase would be sufficient to form a prudent basis for the forthcoming renewal. The New Year inevitably will bring fresh challenges. There are indications of an increase in the average cost of claims in the attritional layer up to US$200,000 which may increase further if commodity prices continue to rise. Uncertainty continues to beset the financial markets as U.S. i