The British Tugowners Association (BTA) issue to industry the revised UK Standard Conditions for Towage and Other Services (2024). Industry is invited to note and make use of the revised Conditions (2024).
A foreword by the Review Panel Chair – Nick Dorman is provided below and included within the full review documentation.
Introduced in the 1920s, the UK Standard Conditions for Towage and Other Services (‘UKSCT’ or ‘Conditions’) provides a framework of liability protection for tugs when assisting other vessels.
Towage is complex and places tugs in potentially hazardous positions where they are often under the direction of a third party, be that a ship Master or Pilot. It is the UKSCT that provides the legal assurances required for insurers to provide cover to tugowners so they can provide these services. UKSCT is also designed to allow claims to be dealt with promptly, which benefits both insurers and assureds. Therefore, it is important that the intention of the provisions are made clear.
The last comprehensive review of UKSCT was in 1974, with a subsequent update in 1986 in light of UK legislation that was considered at that time necessary to be reflected in the Conditions. The wording brought in in 1986 led to some tug operators in the Commonwealth (in particular in Canada, New Zealand and Australia) continuing to use the more generic 1974 Conditions.
Notwithstanding the above, the 1986 revision of UKSCT is understood and applied widely in Courts across many jurisdictions. However, it lacks the language to allow it to be relevant in a contemporary world of, amongst other things, automation, electronic systems and digitalisation.
In addition, some of the legislation the 1986 revision was seeking to deal with, such as the Unfair Contract Terms Act (1977), is now better understood and tested in the Courts. The 1986 version amendments can now therefore be updated to reflect the tested interpretation of those laws. Simply put, whilst the 1986 UKSCT version was in many respects functioning well, it required modernisation.
The British Tugowners’ Association (‘BTA’), the custodians of the UKSCT, engaged with wider industry and interested parties to establish a panel in 2023 to review those Conditions. The review panel included members drawn from the BTA, the International Group of P&I Clubs, senior admiralty lawyers from several prominent international firms, the UK Chamber of Shipping and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
That review concluded with the publication of the UK Standard Conditions for Towage and Other Services (2024), set out in Appendix 1, with explanatory notes at Appendix 2.
The Chair and the BTA would like to thank the members of the review panel – Paul Dean, Robert Gay, Ben Harris, Nick Jeffery, Nicholas Kazaz, Fabien Lerede, Alex McCooke (Coordinator), Robert Merrylees, Robert Shearer and Simon Tatham – for their engagement, professional expertise and diligence culminating in the 2024 version of this longstanding and effective towage agreement.
Nick Dorman – Chair of the Review Panel – November 2024
Documents Attached:
- Full Review Panel Document, containing Foreword, Conditions (2024) & Explanatory Notes
- Appendix 1 – UK Standard Conditions for Towage and Other Services (2024)
- Appendix 2 – Explanatory Notes
Any questions are invited to the BTA Secretariat, Robert Merrylees, rmerrylees@ukchamberofshipping.com
