The container ship X-Press Pearl sank off Colombo, Sri Lanka, resulting in her and her cargo’s total loss, on 2 June 2021 following a fire on board. The claimants constituted a limitation fund by the provision of a P&I Club letter of undertaking, and obtained a limitation decree. The defendants joined to the limitation action included Bengal Tiger Line Pte Ltd, MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co S.A., and Maersk A/S, each of which applied for declaratory relief to the effect that it was a ‘shipowner’ within the definition in Article 1(2) of the Limitation Convention, so as also to be entitled to limit liability.
The court concluded, following The MSC Napoli [2008] EWHC 3002 (Admlty), that all three were slot charterers so as to be ‘shipowners’ within that definition. The judgment holds that such a conclusion does not require the putative slot charterer to have undertaken to pay for cargo carrying capacity whether used or not used (although that was the position on the facts in The MSC Napoli). For MSC and Maersk, therefore, the fact that their contracts with the time charterer required them to pay only for container slots used did not prevent them from being properly characterised as slot charterers, considering their respective contracts as a whole.