Esenyel Partners has published the notice, which is equipped in the conflict environment between Russia and Ukraine and includes the issues that charterers should pay attention to.
In the “Ukraine – Russia War Situation” notice published by Esenyel Partners, it was emphasized that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine mostly affected maritime transport, and therefore the shipowners and charterers.
The notice is stated that “in this direction, the question of how the shippers and charterers should act in terms of the charter contracts they will conclude” is on the agenda, and the points that the shippers and charterers should pay attention to are listed,
* If the owners wish to prevent their ships from navigating in the territorial waters of Russia and Ukraine in the Black or Azov Seas, these locations should be excluded from the permitted trade areas.
* War Risks and Force Majeure clauses must be added to charter agreements. BIMCO model clauses can be used here.
* If the charterers want to trade in the territorial waters of Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea or the Sea of Azov, they should add the regulations that give them explicit authorization to the charter agreement. However, it should also be stated here that in the outbreak of war, even if there is an explicit provision in the charter agreement, the decisions to be taken by the national and international authorities will likely eliminate these clear provisions.
* If charters are concerned about potential war risks or sanctions due to the necessities of their trade, they should not accept standard clauses that rather favor the owner. İnstead of that, they should add regulations that protect their interests, such as provisions that give them the right to terminate under certain conditions, to these standard clauses,