PST Energy 7 Shipping LLC & Anor v OW Bunker Malta Ltd & Anor (Res Cogitans) [2015] EWHC 2022 (Comm) (14 July 2015)

Parties

Procedural Posture

Section 69 Appeal From Arbitration Award / High Court Judgment

Legal Issues

1. 1 Whether a bunker supply contract with retention of title and permission to consume is a contract of sale under the Sale of Goods Act 1979
2. 2 Whether the supplier can claim the price as a debt if property in the goods is extinguished before payment is due
3. 3 Whether terms equivalent to section 12 of the Sale of Goods Act should be implied into such contracts

Ratio Decidendi

A bunker supply contract with a retention of title clause and express or implied permission to consume the bunkers before payment is not a contract of sale to which the Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies, because the supplier does not undertake to transfer property in the goods to the buyer, and both parties contemplate that property will likely never pass. The supplier's claim for payment is a straightforward debt claim, not dependent on the passing of property. There is no basis to imply terms equivalent to section 12 of the Act into such contracts.

Court Disposition

Appeal dismissed; cross-appeal not determined as unnecessary.

Orders

• The Owners' section 69 appeal is dismissed.
• The bunker supply contract is not a contract of sale to which the Sale of Goods Act applies.