ABSTRACT
This chapter examines two questions related to the impact of the regulations on time charters under which the supply of fuel is charterers’ responsibility. First, when can owners refuse an order to take on non-compliant bunkers, in advance of the two dates? This question requires consideration of what orders as to the vessel’s employment the owners are obliged to follow. Second, if following these orders leads to extra costs for owners, can owners recover these costs from charterers through the express or implied indemnity in the time charter? The starting point is that it is the charterer’s responsibility to pay for fuel for the vessel, but it is owner’s responsibility to comply with regulations regarding the operations of the vessel. Owners may be able to recover the cost by way of indemnity if they can show that they are the direct consequences of such orders, and that the chain of causation has not been broken by their own unreasonable conduct.
