Charterparty Ship Warranted Description
On the face of it, it would appear that the ship must comply with her warranted description at the time the charterparty is entered into.
However, this creates issues and particularly raises questions over whether or not the ship needs to comply not only at the date of the charterparty but also throughout the period of the charterparty, when she is delivered, or at any other stage.
The courts have approached this question by considering what the item of description is and when deciding whether it should apply only on delivery or throughout the time of the charterparty.
So representations of the ship’s speed and fuel consumption have been held to apply not only when the contract was made, but also on delivery, and, in certain circumstances, throughout the charterparty period.
Statements as to the ship’s class have been held to apply only at the time the charterparty contract is entered into. It has been suggested that to the extent that a uniform approach is possible it should be that as adopted in Isaacs v McAllum 1921.
In that case the court held that the description related to the ship at the date of the charter but there was an implied term in the charter that the shipowner would not then alter the ship so as to prejudice the services to be rendered to the charterer.