Destruction by fire not a mechanical breakdown under laytime exclusion clause
The Commercial Court has applied a narrow construction in this case to a laytime exclusion clause in respect of time lost at the load port. The delays were due to a fire that had completely destroyed the conveyor belt system linking the terminal normally used by the charterers to the warehouse where the sugar cargo was stored. Nonetheless, the court upheld the owners’ claim for demurrage because it found that the destruction by fire was not a ‘mechanical breakdown’, nor were the subsequent actions of the port authority ‘government interferences’ under the relevant clause.
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