The Eastern City [1958]: the safe port definition
The Court of Appeal decision that supplies the classic definition of a safe port used in every time and voyage charter dispute since.
Leeds Shipping Co Ltd v Societe Francaise Bunge (The Eastern City) [1958] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 127 was decided by the Court of Appeal in 1958. The vessel was ordered to Mogadishu, where she dragged her anchor in an onshore wind and grounded, and the charterers were held in breach of the safe port warranty.
Sellers LJ’s definition at page 131 remains the standard: a port is safe if, in the relevant period of time, the particular ship can reach it, use it and return from it without, in the absence of some abnormal occurrence, being exposed to danger which cannot be avoided by good navigation and seamanship. The Supreme Court adopted that definition in The Ocean Victory in 2017, and it governs the words ‘safe ports and safe places’ in NYPE 2015 Clause 1(b).
The full article will cover the facts, the definition’s four elements, the meaning of abnormal occurrence, and the later authorities.