Based on the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) 1976, as amended by the 1996 Protocol and further amended by the 2012 Resolution,
as incorporated into Schedule 7 of the UK Merchant Shipping Act 1995, given effect by s 185 of the Act. Limits reflect current UK law.
For salvors not operating from a ship or solely on the casualty, tonnage is deemed 1,500 GT (Art. 6(3)).
Note: Special limits apply for ships < 300 GT under UK law (MSA 1995, Sch. 7, Pt. II, para 5).
Calculation Result:
Cases:
Summaries of cases. The cases are generally on LLMC decided by the UK courts, following the law, limits, the version of LLMC, and domestic modifications to it, applicable there at that time. They are only for purposes of learning the general principles, and not to determine any specific law or limit.
Important Notes:
All references to “Art.” below are the Articles of the 1976 Convention, unless the context otherwise states. All references to “Schedule” are to the Schedule 7 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, unless the context otherwise states.
The UK has adopted the LLMC 1976, as amended by the 1996 Protocol, and further amended by the 2012 Resolution.
The 1996 Protocol increased the Art. 6 and 7 limits provided in LLMC 1976 and removed the 25 million SDR cap to the passenger claims limit provided in LLMC 1976. The 1996 Protocol (in Art. 8(4) there) also introduced a ‘tacit amendment’ procedure for further amendments to the limits.
The 2012 Resolution further increased Art. 6 limits (but not Art. 7 limits) in the 1996 Protocol by "tacit amendment" procedure introduced in Art. 8(4) of the 1996 Protocol.
The UK adopted the increased Art. 6 and 7 limits and the abolishment of the 25 million SDR cap to the passenger claims limit in 1996 Protocol, but not the ‘tacit amendment’ procedure.
The UK also adopted the increased Art. 6 limit, although the UK has not adopted the ‘tacit amendment’ procedure. The LLMC 1976, as amended by the 1996 Protocol and 2012 Resolution and as adopted by the UK is legislated in Schedule 7 of the UK Merchant Shipping Act 1995, given effect by s 185 of the Act.
The said Schedule 7 has two parts. Part I posts the substantive part of the LLMC 1976 as amended by the 1996 Protocol (excluding ‘tacit amendment’ procedure), with certain essential adjustments. Part II posts the domestic modifications to the adoption.
Limits are stated in SDR (Art. 8).
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Right to limit liability is made available to Salvors, in addition to Shipowners (Art. 1(1)).
”Shipowner” is widely defined to mean the owner, charterer, manager and operator of the ship (Art. 1(2)).
The protection is made available to any person for whose act, neglect or default, the shipowner or salver is liable (Art. 1(4)).
The protection afforded to shipowners is available to the ship herself in an action brought against her (Art. 1(5)).
The protection is expressly extended to liability insurers (Art. 1(6)). Note: Even in the absence of such provision, in the UK, like many jurisdictions, an insurer was protected as much as the person liable on the claim, because a claim will be brought against a person liable on the claim rather than an insurer, who would only stand behind the person liable on the claim.
The right to limit applies to any ship, whether seagoing or not. Note: this is by way of modification of Art. 1(2) by para 2 of Part II of the Schedule. Such domestic modification was allowed by Art. 15(2)(a).
'Ship' is widely defined to include a ship under construction, insofar as the it is intended or launched for use in navigation as a ship (para 12 of Part II of the Schedule).
Art. 6 limits are modified (by being lowered) in the case of ships < 300 GT (para 5(1) of Part II of the Schedule).
The UK has not adopted the air-cushion vehicles and floating platforms (to explore or exploit natural resources of the sea-bed or the subsoil) exclusion in Art 15.
The act of invoking limitation will not be construed as an admission of liability (Art. 1(7)).
Subject to the above, the limitation is available in all types of claims specified in Art. 2.
They include claims in respect of loss of life/personal injury, delay in carriage of cargo/passengers/passengers' luggage, infringement of rights (other than contractual rights), wreck (and the like) claims, and claims of persons who took measures to avert or minimise loss (other than the person would be liable on the claim).
The limitation does not apply in certain types of claims, which are specified in Art. 3.
They are salvage claims (including Art. 14 of the International Convention of Salvage 1989 - special compensation claims), oil pollution damage claims covered by CLC 1969, claims subject to international convention/national legislation governing or prohibiting limitation for nuclear damage, claims against shipowner of a nuclear ship for nuclear damage, and claims by servants of the shipowner/salvor which are subject to a contract of service.
Art. 4 sets out the conduct barring limitation, that is when the right to limit is lost. It will be triggered only if "the loss resulted from his personal act or omission, committed with the intent to cause such loss, or recklessly and with knowledge that such loss would probably result." The burden is on the person opposing the limitation to prove this. Note: This is a formidably high threshold for a person opposing the limitation to prove.
In case of counterclaims arising from the same occurrence, the respective claims will be set off against each other, and the limitation will apply on the net balance amount (Art. 5).
For claims (other than passengers' loss of life / personal injury claims), Art. 6 sets out the limits. Art. 6(1)(a) sets out the limits in respect of personal claims (i.e. claims for loss of life or personal injury) by non-passengers. Art. 6(2)(b) sets out the limits in respect of all other claims (i.e. property and other claims by passengers and non-passengers) – this will be called here “property claims” for convenience. The only type of claim excluded in Art. 6 is passengers' personal claims.
If the personal claims limit is insufficient to cover all the personal claims, then the unsatisfied portion of the personal claims will spill over to property claims pool.
Ship's tonnage is gross tonnage per Tonnage Measurement Convention, 1969 (Art. 6(5)). See also para 5(2) of Part II of the Schedule).
The UK has made serious changes to passengers’ personal claims limit from that in the LLMC 1976 as amended by the 1996 Protocol (para 6(1) of Part II of the Schedule). First, the limit is not applicable to seagoing ships, meaning the liability in the case of seagoing ships for passenger claims is not limited by s 185 / 7th Schedule of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. Second, in the case of non-seagoing ships, the liability is limited to 175,000 SDR for each passenger. This is not a cumulative limit for all passengers but an individual limit for each passenger who makes a claim. The number of passengers that the ship is authorised to carry is irrelevant. Likewise, tonnage of the ship is irrelevant. A passenger is one carried in the ship under a contract of passenger carriage or one accompanying, with the consent of the carrier, a vehicle or live animals carried under a contract for carriage of goods. Hence, crew members are not passengers. ‘Passengers’ personal claims’ refers only to loss of life or personal injury claims by passengers, and not property claims by passengers.
For Salvors not operating from a ship or solely on the casualty, tonnage is deemed 1,500 GT (Art. 6(4)).
For Salvors operating from a ship, liability is limited as per the tonnage of their ship just like any other shipowner.
For Salvors, the higher 'Passenger Claims' limit (ie. Art. 7 claims) is not applicable, whether they operate from a ship or solely on the casualty. Claims against them are always limited on the basis of personal and property claims as set out in Art. 6.
The limits apply to the aggregate of all claims made against the shipowner, charterer, manager, operator, their Master, crew and servers, arising on any distinct occasion (Art. 9(1)(a) and 9(2)). Similarly, all claims made against salvors not operating from a ship are aggregated into one group for the purpose of the limitation of the salvors’ liability (Art. 9(1)(c)). Likewise, all claims against salvors operating from their ship are aggregated for the purpose of the liability limit (Art. 9(1)(b)).
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