Issue 2: Alternatively, were Owners' obligations as regards the carriage of the Cargo contained exclusively in the charterparty and/or the novation agreement of 6 April 2020?

The original charterers (BP) were the holders of the bill of lading at the time of delivery, but they had novated the charter to new charterers (Gulf). It is worth noting that such a novation is common in trading where parties often swap responsibility for the carriage of the cargo and hence respectively divest/take on responsibility under the charterparty with the owner. The question was whether those bills, which were not endorsed, became a contract of carriage such that, once in the Bank’s possession, they would allow the Bank to sue the vessel owners.