Ship Construction - Defects Warranty - Plausible claim or a tabula in naufragio for Buyer who has not given notice?

“The prospect of some heads of [warranty] claim having a 12 month time limit, and other claims having no time limit at all, and uncertainty as to which category specific claims fell into would be a goldmine for lawyers - and far removed from what the parties stated in their shipbuilding contract and what would have reflected their reasonable and objective intentions. Per Messrs Mark Hamsher, Christopher Moss and Lindsay Gordon (Arbitrators).

Neon Shipping Inc v Foreign Economic 7 Technical Corporation Co. of China & China Chang Jiang National Shipping Group Corporation Jinlin Shipyard [2016] EWHC 399 (Comm).
Defective Cranes, Construction of Language, Time-bar, Sale of Goods Act - Implied Term - Fitness for Purpose.

Facts:

Shipbuilding contract for the design, build and supply of a 57,000 dwt bulk carrier governed by English law and containing an arbitration clause. 

Clause 13 of the contractual Building Specification provided under “General Description of the Ship” that the vessel was “to be designed and built as a single screw motor driven bulk carrier for normal worldwide service”. Clause 33 “Cargo Handling System” specified the capacity of the deck crane to be as follows: “(for reference only)30 [tonnes] .. The cranes to be prepared and fitted with all required fittings for working with motor grabs [and] ..to be fully rated for continuous operation”.

The vessel was delivered on 12 November 2009. Article XI of the Contract provided for a Guarantee Period of 12 months, which expired on 12 November 2010. 

Three (3) years after delivery of the vessel, Buyer claimed that that the cargo cranes were faulty. No notice of the defects about the cranes was given within the Guarantee Period of 12 months. The Defendants denied liability in respect of the alleged defects and further relied upon Article XI of the Contract which provides that:


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