As is well known, RightShip is a private ship-vetting organization maintained by BHP Billiton, Cargill and Rio Tinto. Major dry-bulk shippers in Australia, Brazil and elsewhere increasingly require vessels to be approved by RightShip. Vessels which are not RightShip-approved face difficulties in finding employment in trades where those shippers predominate.

Accordingly, disputes between owners and charterers about RightShip approval are becoming more common. One of these was the subject of a judgment handed down by Mr Justice David Steel in The Silver Constellation, (Seagate Shipping v Glencore International [2008] EWHC 1904 (Comm)), on appeal from a London arbitration award.

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