Feoso v Faith Maritime: Demurrage Lien on Cargo Without Bill of Lading Ownership

In Feoso (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Faith Maritime Company Limited, the Singapore Court of Appeal heard an appeal by Feoso against the High Court's decision that Faith Maritime was entitled to assert a lien on cargo for demurrage. The dispute arose from a voyage charterparty where Faith claimed demurrage due to delays at the discharge port. Feoso, the cargo owner, argued that Faith could not assert a lien because Feoso was not the lawful holder of the bill of lading and that the vessel was not an 'arrived ship' to trigger demurrage. The Court of Appeal dismissed Feoso's appeal, holding that the lien was validly asserted and that Feoso was estopped from denying the vessel's 'arrived ship' status.

1. Case Overview

1.1 Court

Court of Appeal

1.2 Outcome

Appeal Dismissed

1.3 Case Type

Admiralty

1.4 Judgment Type

Grounds of Decision

1.5 Jurisdiction

Singapore

1.6 Description

Singapore Court of Appeal: Lien for demurrage can be asserted against cargo even if the cargo owner lacks lawful bill of lading.

1.7 Decision Date

24 August 2003

2. Parties and Outcomes

Party Name	Role	Type	Outcome	Outcome Type	Counsels
Feoso (Singapore) Pte Ltd	Appellant, Defendant	Corporation	Appeal Dismissed	Lost	Thomas Tan of Haridass Ho & Partners Haridass Ajaib of Haridass Ho & Partners
Faith Maritime Company Limited	Respondent, Plaintiff	Corporation	Judgment for Plaintiff	Won	Richard Kuek of Gurbani & Co. R Govintharasah of Gurbani & Co.

3. Judges

Judge Name	Title	Delivered Judgment
Belinda Ang Saw Ean	Judge	Yes
Chao Hick Tin	Justice of the Court of Appeal	No
Yong Pung How	Chief Justice	No

4. Counsels

Counsel Name	Organization
Thomas Tan	Haridass Ho & Partners
Haridass Ajaib	Haridass Ho & Partners
Richard Kuek	Gurbani & Co.
R Govintharasah	Gurbani & Co.

4. Facts

Feoso bought a consignment of oil from Ever Bright and on-sold it to Titan Oil.
Nordic chartered the Daphne L from Persing to perform the sale contract.
Persing chartered the Daphne L from Faith for carriage of cargo from Kharg Island to Huangpu.
Cargo described as crude oil slops was loaded on board Daphne L at Kharg Island.
Switch bills of lading were issued by Nordic with altered details.
Daphne L arrived at Gui Shan and tendered Notice of Readiness.
Faith asserted a lien on the cargo for demurrage.

5. Formal Citations

Feoso (Singapore) Pte Ltd v Faith Maritime Company Limited, CA 116/2002/D, Adm in Personam 32/2000, Adm in Rem 21/2000, [2003] SGCA 34

6. Timeline

Date	Event
1999-09-08	Feoso bought consignment of oil from Ever Bright Energy Co Ltd.
1999-09-08	Feoso on-sold consignment to Titan Oil Pte Ltd.
1999-10-13	Nordic Long Term Lease Limited chartered Daphne L from Persing Energy Corporation.
1999-10-13	Persing chartered Daphne L from Faith Maritime Company Limited.
1999-10-14	Persing gave voyage instructions to Faith for Daphne L to load cargo.
1999-10-16	Loading of cargo on Daphne L began at Kharg Island.
1999-11-20	Loading of cargo on Daphne L completed at Kharg Island.
1999-11-21	Bill of lading no. KHA-001 issued at Kharg Island.
1999-11-30	Daphne L departed Kharg Island.
1999-12-14	Daphne L called at Singapore.
1999-12-15	Daphne L instructed to proceed to Huangpu.
1999-12-16	Nordic sent fax regarding cargo description.
1999-12-17	Switch bills of lading issued by Nordic.
1999-12-21	Daphne L arrived at Gui Shan and tendered Notice of Readiness.
1999-12-25	Feoso received switch bills from Ever Bright.
2000-01-13	Daphne L sailed from Huangpu to Singapore.
2000-01-18	Daphne L reached OPL Singapore.
2000-01-26	Daphne L entered port limits.
2000-03-01	Faith obtained order for cargo appraisal and sale.
2000-04-29	Cargo discharged to new buyer.
2000-05-02	Daphne L was free of the cargo.
2002-10-01	Judicial commissioner gave judgment.
2003-05-21	Appeal dismissed.
2003-08-25	Decision Date

7. Legal Issues

Contractual Lien for Demurrage
- Outcome: The court held that a contractual lien for demurrage could be asserted against the cargo even when the cargo owner was not the lawful holder of the bill of lading.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Incorporation of charterparty terms into bill of lading
  - Enforceability of lien against cargo owner without bill of lading
  - Validity of Notice of Readiness
- Related Cases:
  - [1983] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 319
  - [1999] 4 SLR 424
Validity of Notice of Readiness
- Outcome: The court held that the Notice of Readiness was validly tendered, and Feoso was estopped from denying that the Daphne L was an 'arrived ship'.
- Category: Substantive
- Sub-Issues:
  - Whether vessel was an 'arrived ship'
  - Compliance with port formalities
  - Estoppel
- Related Cases:
  - [1973] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 247
Leave to Introduce New Contention on Appeal
- Outcome: The court disallowed Feoso leave to introduce a new contention that contradicted its pleaded case.
- Category: Procedural
- Sub-Issues:
  - Contradiction of pleaded case
  - Lack of argument in lower court
  - Deprivation of findings and reasoning of lower court
- Related Cases:
  - [1892] AC 475
  - [1920] AC 254

8. Remedies Sought

Damages for Breach of Contract
Damages for Conversion
Lien on Cargo

9. Cause of Actions

Breach of Contract
Conversion

10. Practice Areas

Admiralty Law
Shipping Law
Commercial Litigation

11. Industries

Shipping
Oil and Gas

12. Cited Cases

Case Name	Court	Affirmed	Citation	Jurisdiction	Significance
Woo Bih Li JC	High Court	Yes	[2002] 4 SLR 716	Singapore	Refers to the judgment of Woo Bih Li JC (as he then was) for a full account of the facts.
Connecticut Fire Insurance v Kavanagh	House of Lords	Yes	[1892] AC 475	United Kingdom	Cited for the principles on which an appellate court should decide an application to raise a new point.
North Straffordshire Railway Co v Edge	House of Lords	Yes	[1920] AC 254	United Kingdom	Cited to support the refusal to deal with a contention advanced by the appellants on the ground that it had not been put forward in the pleadings nor argued before the court below.
The Miramar	N/A	Yes	[1983] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 319	N/A	Cited as authority for the incorporation of Clause 21 of the head charter into bill of lading no. KHA-001.
The Trade Resolve	N/A	Yes	[1999] 4 SLR 424	Singapore	Cited as authority for the incorporation of Clause 21 of the head charter into bill of lading no. KHA-001.
The Epic	N/A	Yes	[2003] 3 SLR 735	Singapore	Cited by Mr. Haridass to argue that the shipowner did not have a lien on cargo for unpaid freight as there was no lien clause in the bill of lading itself nor was one incorporated into the bill of lading as there was no lien clause in the spot charter.
Ocean Projects Inc v Ultratech Pte Ltd	N/A	Yes	[1994] 2 SLR 369	Singapore	Cited by Mr. Haridass to argue that the shipowner could not rely on the clause to detain the cargo for outstanding freight.
The Tres Flores	N/A	Yes	[1973] 2 Lloyd’s Rep. 247	N/A	Cited to support the argument that a requirement that is a mere formality would not prevent the vessel from being an arrived ship.

13. Applicable Rules

Rule Name
No applicable rules

14. Applicable Statutes

Statute Name	Jurisdiction
Bill of Lading Act (Cap. 384)	Singapore

15. Key Terms and Keywords

15.1 Key Terms

Demurrage
Lien
Bill of Lading
Voyage Charterparty
Notice of Readiness
Arrived Ship
Switch Bills
Crude Oil Slops
Fuel Oil
Estoppel

15.2 Keywords

demurrage
lien
bill of lading
charterparty
shipping
admiralty
contract law

17. Areas of Law

Area Name	Relevance Score
Admiralty and Maritime Law	90
Bills of Lading	85
Voyage charterparties	75
Contract Law	70
Demurrage	65
Civil Procedure	60
Contractual Lien	55
Breach of Contract	50
Arrived ship	45
Evidence	40

16. Subjects

Shipping
Contract Law
Admiralty Law
Commercial Law