Arbitration : Agreement - Referral of dispute to arbitration - Defendant applied for stay of proceedings in court pending arbitration - Whether agreement between parties contained an arbitration agreement - Whether said agreement valid and operative - Whether dispute should be referred to arbitration

This was an application by the defendant pursuant to s 10(1) of the Arbitration Act 2005 ('the Act') to stay the proceedings between the parties, pending arbitration. The documents that formed the contractual relationship between the parties were the Letter of Charter Agreement ('LCA') and a Charter Agreement ('CA'). The plaintiff had commenced proceedings against the defendant for the charter hire fees due. The defendant disputed the plaintiff 's claim and sought that the matter be referred to arbitration as per cl 15 of the CA, which it asserted was an arbitration agreement. On the other hand, the plaintiff contended that the CA had expired and therefore cl 15 was no longer operative.