Limitations of liability for maritime claims is a noble idea developed adopted for the marine industry to help on claims on personal injury and damage to property to the ship owners. Under the limitation of liability concept, a ship-owner qualifies for liability limitation for maritime assertions up to a set largest limit irrespective of the claim's definite sum. The limitation of liability conception has been implemented by several international conventions, including the carriage of commuters and their luggage by waters, carriage of goods by sea, and liability for wrecks removals. Every convention has its way of limitation of liability ( Gologina-Economou, 2009 ); however, they share a common liability regime in the global arena with the worldwide limitation conventions like the Maritime Claims, the 1976 Agreement on Limitations of Liability, as well as the 1996 Protocol.
Entry into Force, 1976
The 1976 Convention on Limitations Liability replaced the Limitation of the Liability of Owners of Seagoing Ships signed in 1957 in Brussels and enforced to the law in 1968. The limit of liability in the 1976 Convention for the covered claims is considerably raised; it goes up to 250 to 300 percent for some cases ( Soyer, 2002 ). There are two types specified of claims, including the claims for personal accident or losing a life and the property claims.
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In the 1976 Convention, Chapter 2, article 6, the limits were placed at 333,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) for ship's claims, not more than 500 tons plus an extra fee based on the tons carried ( Berlingieri, 2014 ). For the remainder of claims, the liability limit was fixed at 167,000 SDR, with supplementary sums based on ships tons of not more than 500 tons under the 1976 Convention. Article 6 presents the general limits of liability, which are dependent on the tonnage of the vessel. For instance, a ship that does not exceed 2000 tons is subject to liability claim on loss of life or injury up to two million units. Ships above 2000 tons are broken into three tonnage brackets with the highest being "in excess of 70000" liable to 400 units' claims.
Claims on the destruction of property and all other entitlements are one million units for a ship of not more than 2000 tons. Ships exceeding that weight are grouped with the highest group being "in excess of 70000 tons" with a liability limit of 200 units. Passenger claims on injuries and loss of life are limited to monetary units not exceeding 30 million units for a ship of not more than 2000 tons and more than 2000 tons grouped in three, as shown in article 6—the highest being more than 70000 tons liable up to monetary units of 6000. The claims are applied in the country of the person claiming harm or injury, and the monetary units are denominated in the claimant national currency.
However, there are exceptions to the provision of limitation of liability, as explained by article 4. Limitation of liability is lifted if the party liable results to injury or damage due to an act of omission or commission, committed intending to cause such injury or damage to property.
Protocol of 1996
The 1996 Protocol was adopted in May 1996 and enforced in May 2004. In the Protocol, the payable amount compensated in case of an accident is significantly raised and introduced a 'tacit acceptance' process of updating the charges ( Gutiérrez, 2010 ). The limit of liability for personal injury claims or loss of life on ships not more than 2,000 gross tons is 2,000,000 SDR.
For the bigger ships, these extra amounts are applied in computing the limiting amount:
For every ton carried ranging between 2,001-30,000 tons, is charged 800 SDR
For every ton carried ranging between 30,001-70,000 tons, is charged 600 SDR
For every ton greater than 70,000, 400 tons is charged US$634
The property claims limit of liability for vessels not higher than 2,000 gross tons is 1,000,000 SDR.
For the bigger ships, the extra amounts below are used in computing the limiting amount:
For every ton carried ranging between 2,001-30,000 tons, is charged 400 SDR
For every ton carried ranging between 30,001-70,000 tons, is charged 300 SDR
For every ton carried higher than 70,000 tons, is charged 200 SDR
The 1996 Protocol was later amended in April 2012 and enforced beginning June 08 th ,2015. Under the amendments, the limits were raised in the following manner:
The limit of liability for personal injury or loss of life claims on ships not higher than 2,000 gross tons is charged 3,020,000 SDR from 2million.
For the bigger ships, these extra amounts are applied in calculating the limitation:
For every ton carried ranging between 2,001-30,000 tons, is charged 1,208 SDR
For every ton carried ranging between 30,001-70,000 tons, is charged 906 SDR
For every ton greater than of 70,000 tons, is charged 604 SDR
The property claims limit of liability for ships not higher than 2,000 tons is charged 1,510,000 SDR.
For the bigger ships, the following the extra amounts are applied in computing the limiting amount:
For every ton carried ranging between 2,001-30,000 tons, is charged 604 SDR
For every ton carried ranging between 30,001-70,000 tons, is charged 453 SDR
For every ton greater than 70,000 tons, tons is charged 302 SDR
References
Berlingieri, F. (2014). International Maritime Conventions (Volume 2): Navigation, Securities, Limitation of Liability, and Jurisdiction . CRC Press.
Gutiérrez, N. A. M. (2010). Limitation of liability in international maritime conventions: The relationship between global limitation conventions and particular liability regimes (Vol. 1). Routledge.
Gologina-Economou, E. (2009). Issues Arising from The Limitation of Liability in The Maritime Transport of Passengers. In Competition and Regulation in Shipping and Shipping Related Industries (pp. 385-397). Brill Nijhoff.
Soyer, B. (2002). Sundry Considerations on the Draft Protocol to the Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and Their Luggage by Sea 1974. J. Mar. L. & Com. , 33 , 519.
