The UK High Court has reduced Taiwanese owner Evergreen’s liability in a high-profile collision case dating back to 2015.

The operator had previously been found 80% responsible for an incident involving its 7,024-teu boxship Ever Smart (built 2006) and the 153,000-dwt tanker Alexandra 1 (built 1997) off Jebel Ali.

But following the UK Supreme Court’s first-ever collision ruling last year, overturning earlier decisions on blame, this ratio has now been recalculated by judge Sir Nigel Teare of the Admiralty Court.

The Supreme Court held that the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972 crossing rules applied in the case.

Teare has now revised the liability to 70% for Evergreen and 30% for Nautical Challenge, the owner of the tanker.

The Alexandra 1’s failure to take early and substantial action to keep clear of the Ever Smart was the “earlier fault” which allowed the close quarters situation to develop, he said.

But Teare added that the Ever Smart’s contribution to the extent of the damage caused by the collision was by far the greater.

The damage caused to the tanker, including loss of use, has now been assessed at $9.3m, and damage caused to the Ever Smart at $2.5m.

The February 2021 Supreme Court judgment reinforced the primacy of the crossing rule.

Judgment will ‘burn brightly’

Teare said: “I have no doubt that the light that has been shone on the application of the crossing rule by the Supreme Court will burn brightly in the Admiralty Court for a great many years.”

The case hinged on whether narrow channel rules overrode crossing rules.

The Alexandra 1 was approaching a narrow channel intending to enter into it, while the Ever Smart was navigating the channel intending to exit it.

If crossing rules applied, the tanker would have been the give-way vessel and the Ever Smart the stand-on vessel, obliged to maintain its course and speed.

The Supreme Court found that the crossing rules did indeed apply and that the tanker was obliged to take early and substantial action to keep well clear of the Ever Smart.

Old-fashioned principles

Evergreen’s law firm Stann Law said the decision emphasised the “importance of good old-fashioned principles of navigation by observation”.

In February 2020, the UK Admiralty Court limited Evergreen’s liability for the collision to $9.5m, against a claim by Nautical Challenge of $40m.

An initial report by UK accident investigators found multiple factors caused the collision. The tanker was waiting “too near the channel entrance”, and the container ship did not keep a proper lookout.

The tanker was sold in 2017 at judicial auction, having been arrested in Singapore for non-payment of crew wages.