La cuantificación del blanqueo de capitales

A port which, during the relevant period of time, the ship can reach enter, remain at and depart from without, in the absence of some abnormal occurrence, being exposed to danger which cannot be avoided by good navigation and seamanship (BIMCO Charterparty Definitions 1980.

The port is not safe, in the absence of any express agreement to the contrary, unless the ship can enter it as a laden ship carrying the cargo which is to be delivered to the consignee there.

A port may be rendered unsafe from political matters, such as war and blockade as well as from natural dangers of the sea, vessels sinking in fairways and authorities closing the port due to congestion, as long as the prohibition is not merely temporary.

The charterer's obligation to nominate a safe port usually arises under an express clause in the charterparty.

The vessel to be employed only between good and safe ports or places where she can safely lie....(BALTIME 1939 Clause 2).

Many voyage charters lack such an express clause in their printed versions, eg Gencon, Polcoalvoy, and a few more contain a diluted form of safe port obligation which stipulates only that the charterer shall use due diligence to provide a safe port, eg Shellvoy 2 and Shelltime 3.

There is, however, an implied condition in a charterparty that the charterer will name a safe port.

If a charterer names an unsafe port, the shipowner is not entitled to repudiate the charterparty, but must proceed to the nearest safe port, and discharge the goods there.

If the charterer names an unsafe port, he will be liable to the shipowner for any damages caused to the ship by sailing there, unless the master ought to have been aware of the danger in the port named, and exercised his right of proceeding to the nearest safe port.

The normal definition of safe port is derived from:

..a port will not be safe unless, in the relevant period of time, the particular ship can reach it, use it and return from it without, in the absence of some abnormal occurrence, being exposed to danger which cannot be avoided by good navigation and seamanship...

The doctrines of a safe port apply equally as well to a safe berth and the requirements for a time charterer to provide "good and safe ports" carries with it the obligation to nominate safe berths within such ports.

The relevant period of time...The contractual promise is that the port will be safe when the ship has to use it. If, unknown to anyone, access to the port is in fact blocked by a submerged wreck at the time the order is given, the port will not be prospectively safe and if damages result the charterers will be liable.

By way of contrast, if the hidden obstruction occurs after the order is given but before the ship arrives, the time charterer is obliged to do all he can to protect the ship from the new danger. This secondary obligation does not arise if the charterer has no means of knowing about the new

"unexpected and abnormal occurance".

Thus it is for shipowners, whose ships are damaged in incidents of secondary obligations, to prove that the Charterers ought to have foreseen the danger presented by the intervening danger.

A temporary danger or obstruction will not render the port as unsafe if the carrier could wait a reasonable while for the obstruction to be removed and then proceed into the port.

Neap tides do not make a port unsafe.

The law does not require the port to be safe at the very time of the vessel's arrival. Just as the ship may encounter wind and weather

conditions that delay her on voyage to the port, so may she be delayed by similar conditions on her arrival that put back her entry into the port, and the charterer can not be held responsible for one delay and not the other.

A port is not necessarily unsafe just because a vessel might have to leave it on the approach of bad weather, for it to be safe though, there must be:

A) an adequate weather forecasting system B) adequate availability of pilots

C) adequate searoom to manoeuvre

D) an adequate system for ensuring that the searoom was always available.

A port must be safe in its "set up", which consists of the provisions of equipment such as properly functioning navigation lights and part in services rendered by tugs, pilots and meteorological stations, or the port must make it clear to Masters that they must themselves keep a wireless watch.

The particular ship....A port can be held unsafe for a particular ship, where it might be the largest ever to call at the port, and could not enter without tugs, that were not available locally.

Reach it, use it and return from it...When something occurs that stops the vessel from arriving at the port, eg ice.

It is immaterial in point of law where the danger is located, though it is obvious that the more remote it is from the port, the less likely it is to interfere with the safety of the voyage.

The charterer does not guarantee the the most direct route to the port is safe, but the voyage he orders must be one which an ordinarily prudent and skilful master can find a way of making in safety.

If access to the port is dangerous, owing to the operation of submarines in wartime, the port may be unsafe, even though there is no danger in the port itself.

For a port to be safe it must be one that she can safely get out of, eg. Not be obstructed by bridges when sailing out in ballast.

In the absence of some abnormal occurrence...

An event is not "abnormal" merely because it has hardly ever happened before. Rocket attacks in Beirut were not considered abnormal, as they were an inherent feature of that port in 1978.

Good navigation and seamanship.If the effective cause of the damage suffered by a ship is her own poor navigation then it follows that the safety or lack of safety of the port is beside the point.