Limitation of liability: Who is an ‘Operator’ and who is a ‘Manager’


This article, written by Ian Teare and Matthew Dow of Law Firm, Wikborg Rein, discusses the judgment handed down in the Admiralty Court on the case of the Stema Barge II, and looks in detail at the scope and meaning on the Limitation Convention 1976. In determining the meaning of ‘Operator’, it was necessary for the Court to also


examine the meaning of ‘Manager’. This is the first time that the English Court has been called upon to consider this issue which it did in some detail.


The Background


In December 2015, severe weather caused damage to the railway line which ran along the English coast between Dover and Folkestone. Subsequently, the appointed repairers contracted with Stema Shipping (UK) Limited (Stema UK) for the provision of rock to be used in the repairs. Stema UK purchased the rock from its associated company, Stema A/S. The rock was shipped from Norway in the barge, Stema Barge II, which was anchored in an agreed location before it dragged anchor in gale force winds in November 2016, allegedly damaging a subsea electricity cable owned by Reseau de Transport D’Electricite (RTE).


This was a limitation action arising from the above events. RTE accepted that the Registered Owner of the barge, Splitt Chartering APS (Splitt), and the Charterer, Stema A/S, were entitled to limit their liability but denied that the third defendant company, Stema UK, was entitled to limit.


68 | The Report • December 2020 • Issue 94


LEGAL OPINION


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