On 12th April 2012 the IMO’s legal committee agreed to amend the limits of liability set out in the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 (“the Protocol”). The increase to the liability were agreed using tacit acceptance procedure and entered into force on 8th June 2015, 36 months from the date of notification of their adoption in 2012. The earlier limits have been in force since May 2004.
The limits of liability are increased by approximately 51% taking into account the following factors.
1. The experience of incidents and, in particular, the amount of damage resulting therefrom; 2. Changes in the monetary values; and 3. The effect of the proposed amendment on the cost of insurance.
The new limits under the amendments to the 1996 Protocol to the LLMC are the following and Special Drawing Rights (SDR), the daily conversion rates of which can be found on the website of the International Monetary Fund
Claims for loss of life or personal injury:
For ships not exceeding 2,000 gross tonnage the new limit is increased to 3.02 million SDR (up from 2 million SDR).
For larger ships, the following additional amounts are used in calculating the limitation amount:
For each ton from 2,001 to 30,000 tons, 1,208 SDR (up from 800 SDR)
For each ton from 30,001 to 70,000 tons, 906 SDR (up from 600 SDR)
For each ton in excess of 70,000, 604 SDR (up from 400 SDR)
Property claims:
For ships not exceeding 2,000 gross tonnage the new limit is increased to 1.51 million SDR (up from 1million SDR).
For larger ships, the following additional amounts are used in calculating the limitation amount:
For each ton from 2,001 to 30,000 tons, 604 SDR (up from 400 SDR)
For each ton from 30,001 to 70,000 tons, 453 SDR (up from 300 SDR)
For each ton in excess of 70,000 tons, 302 SDR (up from 200 SDR)
The LLMC, and thus the increased liability limits, is also relevant for incidents under the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001 and the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks, 2007 as these conventions include a right for shipowners to limit their liability in accordance with the LLMC.
