War Risks (Voyage Charter)

What it does

A voyage-charter war risks clause addresses the situation where war, warlike operations, or similar dangers affect the route or ports of the agreed voyage. It defines what counts as a war risk and gives the owner and master a range of rights when such a risk arises, typically including refusing to proceed to or remain at a dangerous port, requiring a safe alternative, or taking protective measures such as deviation.

The clause allocates the risks and costs of war exposure between the parties. Because war risks can endanger the ship, crew, and cargo and can sharply increase insurance costs, it usually protects the owner from being compelled into danger and addresses who bears the additional expense, such as extra war-risk premiums, crew bonuses, and the cost of any diversion, and how the freight and delay are treated.

Commercial effect

The clause assigns the consequences of a serious but unpredictable risk. By letting the owner refuse dangerous ports and routes and take protective steps, it protects life and property, while the cost allocation, additional premiums, bonuses, and diversion expense, determines the financial impact and on whom it falls. In affected trades these costs can be substantial and the clause is heavily relied upon.

War risks clauses also interact with insurance and with the practical realities of a developing situation, since the relevant dangers can arise or change quickly. The clause is read alongside the safe-port, sanctions, and liberty provisions, which together govern how the ship responds to war, sanctions, and similar dangers and who pays for the response.

Owner's perspective

The owner wants broad protection so that it is never compelled to send the ship, crew, and cargo into war or warlike danger, with clear rights to refuse, divert, and take protective measures. It treats safety of life and the vessel as paramount and relies on the clause to avoid being forced by the charterer's voyage orders into an unacceptable risk.

The owner also wants the additional costs of war exposure, extra premiums, crew bonuses, and diversion expense, placed on the charterer or otherwise recoverable, rather than absorbed by the owner. It negotiates the clause so that responding to a war risk protects both the people and property involved and the owner's financial position, and so the rights can be exercised on a reasonable apprehension of danger.

Charterer's perspective

The charterer accepts that the owner must be able to protect the ship and crew from genuine war danger, but it wants the rights exercised on a reasonable basis rather than used to avoid a voyage that is in fact safe. It is conscious that a refusal or diversion can disrupt its cargo plans and sale obligations, so it wants the triggers tied to a real and reasonable apprehension of danger.

The charterer also focuses on the cost allocation, wanting additional war-risk costs to be reasonable and clearly defined rather than open-ended, particularly where the risk was foreseeable when the voyage was fixed. It negotiates the war risks clause alongside the safe-port and sanctions provisions so that the response to war danger is balanced against its commercial need to perform the voyage.

Negotiation points

• The definition of war and warlike risks that trigger the clause.
• The owner's rights to refuse, divert, or take protective measures, and the threshold for exercising them.
• Who bears additional costs such as war-risk premiums, crew bonuses, and diversion expense.
• The interaction with the safe-port, sanctions, and liberty provisions.

Common variations

• A clause allowing the owner to refuse dangerous ports and to seek a safe alternative.
• A war risks clause based on a recognised standard war risks provision.
• A clause placing additional war-risk premiums and bonuses on the charterer.
• A provision permitting protective deviation in response to war risks.