Oh how your heart sinks when you realise you’ve missed a time bar! We see those cases that hit the courts where a missing document such as an NOR or a pumping log can make a difference and I’m sure we will continue to see more of those disputes in the future.
What about missing the time bar altogether and not being able to get your claim to your charterer or counterparty in time? Of course it’s easy to say that this should never happen, but sadly it does. Demurrage analysts must have a high level of time management skills to do the job properly but we are all human and things will get missed. So what can go wrong?
Has a deal been done?
How do know when your vessel has been chartered or when an oil sale has been concluded? Who tells you and when. If no-one tells you how can you start the process and ensure you are able to calculate and compile a claim? Communication is key – if you get told too late to make a claim that’s a waste of time.
What is the time bar?
Charter parties and contracts all vary and it can be difficult to keep abreast of every deal. Common time bars are 90 days for charter parties, 45 days for FOB contracts and 90 or 190 days for CIF/CFR contracts and 30 days for European barges but it is DANGEROUS to make assumptions because there are always going to be exceptions.
What is the trigger date for the time bar?
In most charter parties it is completion of discharge but I have seen examples where the time bar counts from the Bill of Lading date – a challenge for the demurrage analyst if it is a long voyage or there are significant delays at the discharge port. In most FOB contracts it is the Bill of Lading date. We can all count 30 days from the B/L date to determine the time bar BUT many people in the barge world stipulate that the B/L date is day one and not day zero in this count which effectively makes it a 29 day time bar.
Notification Clauses
In addition to getting a fully documented claim in on time some terms require a ‘notification’ of a claim. An example of this is Shellvoy6 which requires such notification with 60 days with the fully documented claim within 90 days. Missing a notification will be fatal to your claim even if you are able to meet the time bar for the documented claim
In a Chain?
All this gets more complicated if you are in a trading chain where you are waiting for information, documents or a claim before you are able to complete and pass your claim up the chain and this can be somewhat out of your control.
Sent your claim? Don’t relax
Watch out for the ‘drop dead’ time bar. Under UK law you have six years to resolve your claim, otherwise unless you have started arbitration or court proceedings your claim will be extinguished. I hope you don’t have claims over six years old but watch out for those clauses that impose earlier time bars in this sense. The Sun Claims Clause is one of those which imposes a time bar for submission of the claim and a time bar of a year to resolve the claim thus bringing forward by FIVE YEARS the statute of limitation.
We at HubSE have a number of ways of assisting the Demurrage analyst in respect of time bars in our Claims Management System (CMS) – missing a time bar is the quickest way to lose money in this business and an investment in a system such as CMS can quickly pay for itself.
If you want to learn more about what we can do please contact me at phil.stalley@hube.com or Tim Bridges at tim.bridges@hubse.com and we can arrange a no obligation demonstration of CMS.
What are your experiences of time bars? How do you ensure that you don’t miss a claim? Please join the debate here.