Recent developments There have been reported groundings, including two recent incidents at the harbour entrance to the port of Durban. In the first case it was reported that  MV Pacific Quartz  touched the north breakwater and the second vessel  MV ER Elsfleth  touched bottom in early December. The port authorities are investigating the incidents, but the second incident is alarming as reports may indicate that there appears to be a sand bar forming across the harbour entrance. Questions have been raised at various local forums regarding these incidents and various theories have been put forward. The most pertinent one regards proper dredging of the entrance channel and the removal of silt from the South breakwater. The harbour master is expected to publish a report shortly on the issue of dredging as there may have already been a number of previous groundings in the port. As a result of these groundings, the port reduced the under keel clearance in Durban by 30 cm as reported in a previous loss prevention notice dated 30 September 2014. Legal issues Warranty Members are reminded that should the wording in the charterparty expressly state that the vessel will be employed between "safe ports and safe places" (NYPE 93, clause 5) or similar such wording, then an express warranty of safety is created and charterers may be liable to owners for damages sustained as a result of an unsafe port or berth. It needs to be kept in mind of course that in other charter terms, say Shelltime 4, the basic obligation is one of due diligence, rather than an absolute warranty. The classic definition of an unsafe port is: "...a port will not be safe unless, in the relevant period of time, the particular ship can reach it, use it and return from it without, in the absence of some abnormal occurrence, being exposed to danger which cannot be avoided by good navigation and seamanship..." (The Eastern City [1958]). When one considers the reported incidents at the Port