In The “Vinalines Pioneer the High Court of Singapore [2015] SGHC 278 has held that a claim for loss of containers on board a vessel did not constitute ‘damage done by a ship’ within the meaning of s.3(1)(d) of Singapore’s the High Court (Admiralty Jurisdiction) Act which is identical to s. 20(2)(e) of the UK Senior Courts Act 1981. Belinda Ang Saw Ean J adopted the externality test applied by Clarke J in The Rama [1996] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 281, to the maritime lien for damage by a ship. To fall within this heading the damage had to be sustained by a person or property external to the ship. Here the total loss of the containers was the result of damage done to the carrying vessel.
In rem jurisdiction and ‘damage done by a ship’.
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Professor Simon Baughen
Professor Simon Baughen was appointed as Professor of Shipping Law in September 2013 (previously Reader at the University of Bristol Law School). Simon Baughen studied law at Oxford and practised in maritime law for several years before joining academia. His research interests lie mainly in the field of shipping law, but also include the law of trusts and the environmental law implications of the activities of multinational corporations in the developing world. Simon's book on Shipping Law, has run to seven editions (soon to be eight) and is already well-known to academics and students alike as by far the most learned and approachable work on the subject. Furthermore, he is now the author of the very well-established practitioner's work Summerskill on Laytime. He has an extensive list of publications to his name, including International Trade and the Protection of the Environment, and Human Rights and Corporate Wrongs - Closing the Governance Gap. He has also written and taught extensively on commercial law, trusts and environmental law. Simon is a member of the Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, a University Research Centre within the School of Law, and he currently teaches at Swansea on the LLM in:Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air; Charterparties Law and Practice; International Corporate Governance. View all posts by Professor Simon Baughen