INTERTANKO endorses BIMCO’s GUARDCON
INTERTANKO’s Documentary Committee has previously been involved in the work done by BIMCO on a standard contract for Private Armed Guards (GUARDCON). The Committee much appreciated the opportunity to comment on the early GUARDCON drafts and has been watching the development and use of GUARDCON with interest. GUARDCON has now been in use for some months. During this time the Documentary Committee has reviewed the GUARDCON wording and, as the use of private armed guards has proliferated, has considered it against a backdrop of other contracts for the use of private armed guards. The Committee found that private armed guard contracts vary in content and standard, with some being unclear and/or unfavourable to owners. In some, legal rights and obligations of the parties are ill-defined.
At the second Documentary Committee meeting of 2012, which took place in London on 12 September under the chairmanship of David Chapman of OSG Tankers UK Ltd, the Committee, on behalf of INTERTANKO, has therefore now endorsed GUARDCON as a model contract for use by shipowners who engage private armed guards.
It is hoped that with INTERTANKO support, GUARDCON can move towards becoming an industry standard, always with the opportunity for Members who choose to use it to amend it to suit the particular circumstances of their trade. You can download your copy of GUARDCON here, as well as the BIMCO guidance and Rules on Use of Force.
To use GUARDCON, we recommend BIMCO’s web-based charter party editing system, idea, which provides access to a secure Microsoft Word version of the contract that can be filled in and edited online and then exchanged by e-mail. For details of how to sign up to use idea, please click on the ‘Products’ tab on the BIMCO homepage at www.bimco.org or contact idea@bimco.org
Other Documentary Committee news
The Committee has completed its work on a Change of Regulation Clause to address situations where the regulation applicable to a particular vessel may change mid-charter and affect a vessel’s trading pattern. In addition the Committee has developed a standard River Ports Clause. Both clauses will be published shortly.
The Committee considered the INTERTANKO Vetting Inspection Clause in the light of the recent court decision in the ‘ROWAN’ [2011] EWHC 3374 (Comm) and decided that there was no cause to amend the wording. The INTERTANKO Vetting Inspection Clause is set out below:
1. Owners warrant that at the time of delivery:
i) the Vessel will have a SIRE report available through the OCIMF system which has been issued within the last six months.
ii) the Vessel is not unacceptable to [insert companies]
2. If, during the currency of the charter, the Vessel is found to be unacceptable following a vetting inspection performed under the SIRE system, Owners will take corrective action and will promptly report such actions to the inspecting company concerned and the Charterers will be informed. If required Owners will have the Vessel inspected again as soon as reasonably practicable. Owners, however, shall not have any obligation to make any changes to the Vessel’s design.
3. If the Vessel is found to be unacceptable following a vetting inspection performed under the SIRE system by any of the abovementioned companies, that shall not of itself entitle the Charterers to put the Vessel off-hire or to claim damages. However, should the Vessel be found unacceptable on three consecutive vetting inspections by any of the abovementioned companies, the Charterers shall have the option to cancel the charter with immediate effect within seven days of the result of the third inspection becoming known. If, at that time, the Vessel is committed for a voyage such cancellation will take effect from the completion of discharge.
The Committee has also been charged with assisting with the work of the Worldscale Committee (which is to be given a revised mandate). For this, the Committee will consider ways in which charterparty clauses can support the work of the Worldscale Committee, for example by developing clauses to deal with bunker costs and slow steaming.
The Committee is actively looking for new members from the broking community. Any interested candidates are asked to contact the Secretary. Members are also invited to make any suggestions for the development of model clauses. The next meeting will take place in early 2013.
