ABSTRACT
Strikes and other forms of industrial action are among the commonest and most significant causes of delay in the construction of newbuildings. They are also circumstances which the builder, as the employer of the workforce at the shipyard, may sometimes be in a position to influence or control. Ensuring the availability and timely delivery of the materials and equipment needed for the vessel’s construction represents another of the builder’s principal obligations under the contract. A more difficult issue arises, however, if the force majeure provisions of the contract refer merely to events beyond the builder’s control and the subcontractor simply and inexcusably defaults in the proper performance of its obligations. The shipbuilder claimed these costs from the purchaser and the resulting dispute reached the House of Lords, which held that the shipbuilder was entitled to rely upon the subcontractor’s default as being “a cause of delay beyond control”.
