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The arbitral tribunal appointed determined that, in applying the terms of the force majeure clause in the COA, the problem could have been “overcome by reasonable endeavours from the Party affected”. This was on the basis that, in this case, “reasonable endeavours” required MUR to accept RTI’s proposal to pay in Euros and to bear the costs of immediately exchanging the Euros into US dollars. The Tribunal viewed this as a “completely realistic alternative” to payment in US dollars. As a result, the tribunal found in favour of RTI.
MUR obtained leave to appeal under section 69 of the Arbitration Act 1996 on a question of law, namely whether “reasonable endeavours” extended to obliging MUR to accept the payment of the freight by RTI in (non-contractual) Euros instead of (contractual) US dollars. The High Court allowed MUR’s appeal, the Court of Appeal by a majority allowed RTI’s cross-appeal, and MUR in turn appealed to the UK Supreme Court. The case notes on the High Court and the Court of Appeal judgments can be found here [[https://www.onlinedmc.co.uk/index.php?title=MUR_Shipping_BV_v_RTI_Ltd]] and here[[https://www.onlinedmc.co.uk/index.php?title=MUR_Shipping_BV_v_RTI_Ltd_-_Court_of_Appeal_decision]].
'''Judgment'''