When all goes wrong at sea. . .

I BELIEVE charterers will be sleeping more easily following a May 10 judgment by the UK Supreme Court on the case of the grounding of The Ocean Victory, which led to the bulk carrier being written off as a total loss.

Legal cases can drag on, and this particular one, which has attracted a lot of attention, resulted from the loss of this ship more than a decade ago.

To simplify this complex case: The Ocean Victory's mutual-liability insurer Gard was claiming against charterers China National Chartering Co Ltd and Daiichi Chuo Kisen Kaisha, on the grounds that the vessel had been ordered to call at an unsafe port.