BIMCO APPROVES FIVE NEW CHARTER PARTIES

BIMCO APPROVES FIVE NEW CHARTER PARTIES    The Baltic and International Maritime Council has approved five new charter parties at a recent meeting of the group’s documentary meeting in Copenhagen.
   BIMCO updated its “Barecon 89” charter form to the “Barecon 2001” to reflect modern bareboat chartering practice. New provisions in the charter party form cover areas such as termination and repossession.
   The “Baltime 1939,” one of BIMCO’s most popular charter parties, underwent some minor changes to introduce the latest versions of war risks and law and arbitration clauses.
   BIMCO’s new “Demolishcon 2001” for the standard contract for the sale of vessels for demolition replaces the “Salescrap 87.” “The revision has been politically expedient following the launch of the Industry Code of Practice on Recycling earlier this year,” BIMCO said.
   The committee also approved the BIMCO Standard Bunker Contract, which is a revision to the earlier “Fuelcon’ Standard Marine Fuels Purchasing Contract. The revision was made with help from the International Bunker Industry Association. “The new contract which parts with the ‘Fuelcon’ layout undertakes a balanced approach to a number of key issues in respect to the purchasing of marine fuels such as sampling, claims and risk and title.” BIMCO said.
   BIMCO approved the FONASBA Standard Liner and General Agency Agreement. The revision, which is largely a technical update, combines the 1993 editions of the General Agency Agreement (for Liner Services) and the Standard Liner Agency Agreement both adopted by BIMCO
   In response to the increasing use of mediation in the shipping industry, BIMCO had also developed a standard mediation clause for use in charter parties and other agreements.
   “The Mediation Clause is worded to reflect the consensual nature of the mediation process while empowering the arbitrator to take the actions of a recalcitrant party into account when awarding costs, should the arbitrator feel that one party has acted unreasonably in declining to even attempt mediation,” BIMCO said.
   The London Maritime Arbitrators Association, the Society of Maritime Arbitrators, New York and the Chambre Arbitrale Maritime de Paris have endorsed the BIMCO Standard Mediation Clause for use.