Case Nos: CL-2023-000206 and CL-2023-000207 - [2025] EWHC 1591 (Comm)

The Defendants’ case, which relies on the same conduct as that on which they rely for the purposes of their contract case, is that ‘Owners waived any right … to contend that the Charterers or the Guarantor are liable to them on the basis of the original wording/obligations of the Charterparty and the Guarantee.’ In my view, there was no conduct on the part of Owners which represented that, in the absence of a concluded written contract varying or replacing the Charterparties, that the obligations under the Charterparties and Guarantees would not be relied on. Certainly, and given the background of ongoing ‘subject to contract’ negotiations, Owners’ conduct was not clear and unequivocal.