Unseaworthiness In The Supreme Court: The CMA CGM Libra - John Russell QC And Benjamin Coffer (Video)

• Published date: 11 November 2021
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Transport, Marine/ Shipping, Trials & Appeals & Compensation
• Law Firm: Quadrant Chambers
• Author: John Russell and Benjamin Coffer

OVERVIEW

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The Supreme Court handed down judgment today in The CMA CGM Libra [2021] UKSC 51, its much-awaited analysis of seaworthiness and the due diligence obligation under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules. The Court dismissed the appeal, upholding the decisions of Mr Justice Teare and the Court of Appeal. John Russell QC and Benjamin Coffer appeared for the successful respondents, instructed by Jai Sharma, John Reed and Jessica Cook of Clyde & Co LLP.

In rejecting the appeal, the Court took the opportunity to conduct a wide-ranging review of the authorities on Article III.1 and to resolve a number of long-standing controversies in this area of law. The judgment is essential reading for practitioners who have any dealings with cargo claims, and should now be the starting point in any case concerning seaworthiness under the Rules or 'fitness' in a charterparty.

The appeal arose out of the grounding of the container ship CMA CGM LIBRA while leaving the port of Xiamen, China in May 2011. The owners claimed general average contributions from the cargo interests. At first instance, Teare J held that the passage plan was defective because it failed to record a warning that depths shown on the chart outside the fairway were unreliable and waters were shallower than recorded on the chart. On that basis, Teare J held that the vessel was unseaworthy at the commencement of the voyage: the defects in the vessel's passage plan and the relevant working chart rendered the vessel unseaworthy. The defects were causative, because if the warning had been on the chart, the Master would not have left the fairway. A strong Court of Appeal comprising three experienced shipping judges (Haddon-Cave, Flaux and Males LLJ) upheld his judgment in robust terms.

The owners appealed to the Supreme Court. The owners'...