沃泰思航运有限公司 (Vertex Shipping Co., Ltd.) v. 华风国际海运有限公司 (Fairwind International Shipping Co., Ltd.)

At a glance

Parties

Vertex Shipping Co., Ltd. (沃泰思航运有限公司, Republic of Korea) v. Fairwind International Shipping Co., Ltd. (华风国际海运有限公司, British Virgin Islands)

Case no.

(2019)沪72协外认3号

Court

Shanghai Maritime Court (上海海事法院)

Underlying award(s)

Final award of 14 January 2019 by an ad hoc tribunal in London (Timothy Marshall and Ian Guant), in the charter party dispute over the vessel "IZUMI"

Treaty

New York Convention 1958, Article V

Court panel

Shen Jun (presiding judge), Li Haiyue, Zhang Jian

Sector

Shipping; time charter

Outcome

The London award was recognised and enforced (23 August 2019).

Amount

Award: USD 444,866.24 plus compound interest at 5% a year from 4 April 2015, and arbitration fees of GBP 6,715 plus compound interest at 4.5% a year. Court application fee: RMB 400, payable by Fairwind.

The dispute

Vertex Shipping, a Korean company, and Fairwind International Shipping, a British Virgin Islands company, entered into a time charter in 2014 for the vessel \"IZUMI\". Vertex said that Fairwind had to return USD 444,866.24 under the charter and had refused. Vertex began arbitration in London. Each party appointed one arbitrator, both members of the Baltic Exchange and of the London Maritime Arbitrators Association, and the tribunal issued a final award in Vertex's favour on 14 January 2019. Vertex then applied to the Shanghai Maritime Court to recognise and enforce the award. Fairwind argued that it had challenged the award in the English courts, so it was unclear whether the award was in force. It also challenged Vertex's corporate documents, its power of attorney and its lawyers' authority to act.

Key holdings

1. Jurisdiction. The award was made in London and is a foreign award, and China and the United Kingdom are both parties to the New York Convention. The court had jurisdiction as the maritime court where Fairwind's property is located: on 12 August 2015 it had granted Vertex pre-action preservation and frozen Fairwind's offshore account in Shanghai. p. 3
2. Counsel's authority. The power of attorney covered every stage of the "IZUMI" dispute, not only the preservation proceedings. Each of the two original attorneys could act alone, including to delegate authority, so the lawyers acting under the individual delegations were properly authorised. p. 3
3. No ground under Article V(1)(e). Fairwind bore the burden of proof. It filed no properly formalised evidence of its English court challenge and no evidence that the award had been set aside. It also showed none of the other grounds in Article V(1). p. 4
4. No ground under Article V(2). The dispute over the return of hire is a contractual commercial matter between foreign companies with a foreign element. It could be arbitrated abroad and is consistent with China's commercial reservation. It concerns commercial interests and does not engage public policy. p. 4
5. The award was recognised and enforced under Article V of the Convention, Article 283 of the Civil Procedure Law and Article 11 of the Special Maritime Procedure Law. Fairwind bears the RMB 400 application fee. pp. 4–5

Procedural history

1. 2014Vertex and Fairwind enter into a time charter for the vessel "IZUMI".
2. 12 August 2015The Shanghai Maritime Court grants Vertex pre-action preservation and freezes Fairwind's offshore account in Shanghai.
3. 14 January 2019The ad hoc London tribunal issues its final award in Vertex's favour.
4. 22 February 2019Vertex pays the arbitration fees to the tribunal.
5. 10 June 2019Vertex applies to the Shanghai Maritime Court for recognition and enforcement. The case is docketed the same day.
6. 23 August 2019The court rules that the award is to be recognised and enforced.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

For the claimant

上海四维乐马律师事务所

For the respondent

上海海神律师事务所

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Keywords

• New York Convention
• recognition and enforcement
• foreign arbitral award
• Article V(1)(e)
• Article V(2)
• public policy
• arbitrability
• commercial reservation
• London maritime arbitration
• LMAA
• time charter
• IZUMI
• return of hire
• ad hoc arbitration
• pre-action property preservation
• Shanghai Maritime Court
• power of attorney

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.