Shipping

The key to a proper understanding of the off-hire clause in the NYPE form was that it was triggered by a cause that prevented the full working of the vessel. It was axiomatic that the full working of the vessel referred to her ability to do that which she was immediately required to do. Thus the full working of a vessel required to sail from port A to port B was not for the duration of that voyage prevented by the circumstance that her cranes were not in working order. Established authority provided the basis for the proposition that an off-hire clause was concerned with the service immediately required of the vessel, and not with “the chartered service” as a whole or the entire maritime adventure or adventures which might be undertaken in the course of the chartered service. The clause concentrated on the period during which full working of the vessel was prevented or stopped.