The Evia (No 2) [1982]: safe port at nomination
The House of Lords decision that the safe port warranty is judged prospectively at nomination, with a secondary duty to re-nominate if the port becomes unsafe.
Kodros Shipping Corporation of Monrovia v Empresa Cubana de Fletes (The Evia) (No 2) [1983] 1 AC 736 was decided by the House of Lords in 1982. The vessel, on an amended BALTIME form, was ordered to Basrah and was trapped there when the Iran-Iraq war broke out on 22 September 1980.
The House of Lords held that the charterers’ safe port obligation is a promise that the port is prospectively safe when nominated; the outbreak of war was an abnormal occurrence, so the charterers were not in breach. Where a nominated port becomes unsafe after nomination and the vessel can still leave, a secondary obligation arises to cancel the order and nominate another port. The decision stands with The Eastern City as the frame for the safe port warranty in NYPE 2015 Clause 1.
The full article will cover the facts, the speeches, the secondary obligation, and the later application in The Ocean Victory.