Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc The Achilleas [2007] 2 Lloyds Rep 555

IS THE COURT OF APPEAL DECISION IN THE ACHILLEAS GOOD LAW?In September 2007 the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Commercial Court in Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc The Achilleas. The case relates to the assessment of damages where late redelivery under a time charterparty causes the vessel to miss the cancellation date for the next fixture. The Commercial Court had earlier held that where a time charterparty had no unusual provisions or features and the time charterer fails to redeliver the vessel in time for its next fixture, leading to a loss of profit in the next fixture, the shipowner’s claim for damages based on that loss of profits against the redelivering charterer was not too remote, being a not “unlikely result” of late redelivery. This decision had come as a surprise to the shipping industry, especially amongst charterers.