#32 Termination for Terrorism

In this episode of Case by Case, Luke and Calum discuss the recent ship finance decision of OCM Maritime Nile LLC & Anor v. Courage Shipping Co Ltd & Others (Courage and Amethyst) [2022] EWHC 452 (Comm) from the English Court of Appeal coming from the Commercial Court. With the imposition of recent US/UK/EU sanctions regimes, we’ve been advising extensively on the consequences. They can be drastic. This case highlights the dramatic impact of the US government’s listing of an UBO as a “specially designated global terrorist”. Here it resulted in the loss of ships. Largely due to contractual wording in a bareboat charter. That’s the rub of these cases. How to reconcile the sanctioning status with the contractual matrix. The borrower/charterers' misconduct in and around the proceedings also did not help them - under equity principles. Well worth a listen for anyone potentially exposed to counterparty sanction risk or seeking to mitigate such risk in drafting their contracts. A must-know case for anyone in ship or asset finance, where borrowers or their owners could be designated on govt sanctions lists. Listen through for the details on this interesting one and make sure to follow on Spotify to get notified when our next episode drops.