• 4 min de lectura
• 4 min de lectura
The UK Admiralty Court handed down a decision last week after hearing arguments from the owners and operators of the containership Solong that they should be permitted to limit liabilities from the 2025 incident when their ship plowed into the anchored tanker Stena Immaculate. At issue were claims by Stena Bulk, as the owners of the tanker, and Crowley, as the charterer, that the owners of the containership had knowingly let it sail with problems that would contribute to the incident.
The Solong was sailing from Scotland to the Netherlands when, on the morning of March 10, 2025, it hit the anchored tanker Stena Immaculate off the coast of England near Hull. A massive fire erupted as one of the tanks filled with jet fuel was breached, killing one crewmember on the Solong. The remaining crewmembers from both ships were rescued, but the fire would burn for days, destroying the containership and badly damaging the tanker.
The UK court was considering claims by Stena and Crowley opposing the limitation of liabilities under Article 4 of the 1976 Convention on the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims. Article 4 would have removed the right to limit the liabilities if it could be proven that "personal acts of omission, committed with intent to cause such loss, or recklessness and with knowledge that such a loss would probably result."
In opposition to the limitation of liabilities, the tanker's interests were calling the Solong"unseaworthy" and asserting the captain's navigational practices were dangerous and likely known by management of the companies. They asserted the designated manager ashore likely knew of the problems with the operation of the Solong.
The owners and operators of the Solong acknowledged that Captain Vladimir Motin was convicted of manslaughter by a UK court. He was charged with failing to maintain a proper lookout and not properly using the radar and other navigational systems. In that case, it was alleged he had missed the opportunities to identify the anchored tanker while they were at a sufficient distance and failed to sound an alarm when it became evident the containership would ram the tanker. A preliminary statement from UK investors said they believe there was spotty visability meaning the Solong should have had a lookout.
A seaman thought to be working near the bow of the containership, Mark Pernia, had been available to serve as a lookout but was working on the bow. His body was never found, and he is presumed to have died when the ship struck the tanker or in the subsequent fire.
The owners of the Solong acknowledge the gross failure of watchkeeping and navigation duties by the captain, but they assert the problems were limited to the captain's failures. The captain, in his defense, had tried to blame the bridge systems, but that was rejected during his trial.
Justice Andrew Barker of the Admiralty Court found that the tanker's owners and operators had no realistic prospect of proving their case to meet the high threshold to break the limitation of liabilities. He rejected their argument that disclosures during the case might present supporting evidence, in effect saying the companies were fishing.
Stena Bulk and Crowley are pursuing claims for the damage to Stena Immaculate, which was sold to a new owner they said would repair the ship, as well as cargo losses, salvage costs, and the crew's claims. Based on the court's decision, the liability will be capped at around $20 million to be split by all the claimants.
The case comes as a similar issue is about to be presented in the U.S. courts. Grace Ocean, the owner of the containership Dali, and Synergy Marine, the manager of the vessel, filed shortly after the vessel destroyed the Key Bridge in Baltimore to limit their liabilities, citing an 1850s law. The federal judge in the case last week rejected a last-minute filing to delay the case, which is now due to start on June 1.
Judge James Bredar of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, in the first phase of the trial, will be hearing the same issue if the owners and operators of the containership can limit their liabilities. The second phase of the civil trial will deal with the claims from five of the families of the victims, as well as financial claims from the City of Baltimore, cargo owners, and businesses that suffered financial losses. Synergy Marine and its technical superintendent have also been indicted in federal court on criminal charges relating to the operation and maintenance of the vessel, as well as claims of providing false information to investigators.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
