Actionable fault and general average. Due diligence and unseaworthiness.

Actionable fault and general average. Due diligence and unseaworthiness.

In The CMA CGM Libra  [2019] EWHC 481 (Admlty), a container vessel grounded on leaving Xiamen on a shoal in an area in which there is a risk of uncharted shoals. Salvors refloated the vessel which then proceeded on her voyage. The shipowners funded the salvage and declared general average. 8% of cargo interests refused to pay their share on the grounds of actionable fault on the part of the shipowners. The vessel’s primary means of navigation was intended to be paper charts published by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). Before leaving Xiamen the Second Officer prepared a passage plan which the Master approved. The plan was inadequate in that it did not refer to the existence of a crucial Preliminary Notice to Mariners (NM6274/P10) that had been issued by the UKHO approximately 5 months before the grounding, alerting mariners to the presence of numerous depths less than charted in the approaches to Xiamen and confirming that the charted depths within the dredged channel were sufficient for the vessel. Nor did the passage plan refer to any “no-go areas” which had not been marked or identified on the chart. At trial the Master confirmed that had the chart been marked up with the appropriate “no-go areas” he would not have attempted to execute the manoeuvre that ultimately led to the stranding of the vessel.

Teare J considered the burden of proof. The Supreme Court’s decision in Volcafe related to the burden of proof in relation to Article III.2 of the Hague Rules and did not deal with the burden of proof for Article III.1. There had been actionable fault through a breach of Article III.1 of the Hague Rules Article IV r.1 provides that where loss or damage results from unseaworthiness the burden of proving the exercise of due diligence shall be on the carrier. Thus it deals with the burden of proof for the purposes of Article III r.1. It is implicit in Article IV r.1 that the burden of proving causative unseaworthiness must lie upon the cargo owner for the article assumes that such unseaworthiness has been established.

Teare J then found that cargo interests had established a breach of Article III.1 in that the absence of an adequate passage plan was a cause of the grounding.. The presence on board a vessel of the appropriate chart is an aspect of seaworthiness. Where the Admiralty gives notice of a correction to the appropriate chart a vessel will not be seaworthy unless the chart has been corrected. If the vessel’s navigating officer fails, before the commencement of the voyage, to correct the chart the vessel is thereby rendered unseaworthy. The production of a defective passage plan is not merely “an error of navigation” but involves a breach of carrier’s obligation that the vessel is seaworthy “before and at the beginning of the voyage.” If there is a causative breach of Article III r.1 the fact that a cause of the subsequent casualty is also negligent navigation will not protect the carrier from liability. Passage planning by the master before the beginning of the voyage is necessary for safe navigation.

The carrier’s duty under Article III r.1 was not discharged by putting in place proper systems and ensuring that the requisite materials were on board to ensure that the master and navigating officer were able to prepare an adequate passage plan before the beginning of the voyage. As set out in Scrutton on Charterparties and Bills of Lading 23rd.ed at paragraph 14-046:

“The due diligence required is due diligence in the work itself by the carrier and all persons, whether servants or agents or independent contractors whom he employs or engages in the task of making the ship seaworthy; the carrier does not therefore discharge the burden of proving that due diligence has been exercised by proof that he engaged competent experts to perform and supervise the ask of making the ship seaworthy. The statute imposes an inescapable personal obligation.”

Due diligence was not exercised because the Owners’ SMS contained appropriate guidance for passage planning and that the auditors of the vessel’s practices were competent. To comply with Article III r.1, which imposes a non-delegable duty on thecarrier, it is not enough that the owner has itself exercised due diligence to make the ship seaworthy. It must be shown that those servants or agents relied upon by the owner to make the ship seaworthy before and at the beginning of the voyage have exercised due diligence. Negligence by the master or chief engineer or other officer before the commencement of a voyage can amount to a failure by the carrier to make the vessel seaworthy.

Accordingly there had been actionable fault by the shipowners and cargo were not required to contribute to general average.