Earn Line S. S. Co. v. Manati Sugar Co.
Opinion of the Court
January 4, 1918, at the city of New York, the Earn Fine Steamship Company chartered its steamer Harald to the Manatí Sugar Company to carry a cargo of sugar from Cuba and to deliver it at Yonkers, N. Y. The material provisions of the charter party are as follows:
“Fourth. * * * Lay days for discharging to begin when the vessel arrives and reports ready to deliver cargo, whether berthed or not. Any time spent at the port of call or discharging port (New York deemed port; of call if discharge to be at Yonkers) until receipt of orders to count as demurrage days; also any time spent waiting for the securing of necessary import licenses or documents oi any kind whatsoever required by any governmental authority, or delay for any cause ór reason for which the steamer, her owners and/or representatives, are not responsible, to count as demurrage days. Vessel to be discharged at the rate of not less than seven thousand five hundred (7,500) bags of 82o pounds each per working day. Lay days are not reversible. For each and every day’s detention, the party of the second part shall pay to the party of the first part, or agent, demurrage, day by day, at the rate of forty-eight cents (48c.) United States currreney per ton of the vessel’s gross registered tonnage.
“Fifth. The hills of lading on Earn Line Steamship Company form to be signed without prejudice to this charter and subject to this contract as to freight, dead freight, and all other conditions, including loading, discharging, and demurrage.”
The steamer was cleared in the custom house at New York, February 6th at 3:30 p. m., but did not start for Yonkers until 1 p. m. of the 7th, where she began discharging at 4:20 p. m. and finished February 9th at 1:30 p. m. It is conceded that the consignee had 4.3074 working days for discharging the cargo and used but 1.625, thus saving 2.6824.
The Steamship Company filed this libel against the Manatí Company ■ for a balance of freight, and afterwards amended it by adding a claim for demurrage incurred at New York between 3:30 p. m. February 6th and 1 p. m. February 7th.
The Manatí Company brought in the Federal Sugar Refining Company under the fifty-ninth rule (29 Sup. Ct. xlvi), which set off its claim for dispatch money and for damages resulting from its refinery being closed down for want of raw sugar from the afternoon of February 6th until 4:30 p. m. of the 7th, when the steamer began to discharge.
The District Judge dispossd of these claims as follows:
-First. He disallowed the claim of the Steamship Company for demurrage on the ground that it was responsible for the delay in starting for Yonkers.
Second. He allowed the claim of the Federal Sugar Refining Company for dispatch money in discharging.
Thirds He disallowed the Federal Sugar Company’s claim for damages resulting from the shutting down of its refinery.
We agree with the learned judge’s finding as to the first claim, but on a different ground, viz. that as demurrage begins to run only after expiration of lay days, and the steamer was discharged within the lay days, no demurrage is recoverable, whether the delay at New York was justified or not.
Ghartar Party. “That uniform charter party and hill of lading shall be employed in Cuban and Santo Dominican trades.
Demurrage and Dispatch Money. “ * * * That dispatch money shall be paid, if earned, at the rate of sixteen cents (16c.) per gross registered tonnage of vessel per day, to the party or parties responsible for the dispatch.”
The committee furnished the blank for the charter party which was used in this case, and it must have been a form prepared at the time they issued these first regulations or before January 4, 1918, when it was used. There being no evidence whatever of any mistake, we are hound to assume that the committee deliberately omitted from the form, they supplied the provision as to dispatch money. The charter party constitutes the contract between the parties, and, even if the libelant were entitled under the regulations to dispatch money, it must be taken io have waived this provision by signing the form of charter party which contained no such provision. We think it entitled to no dispatch money.
The court below is directed to strike out the allowance for dispatch money, and, as so modified, the decree is affirmed, without costs of this court to either party.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- EARN LINE S. S. CO. v. MANATI SUGAR CO.
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- 3 cases
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- Published