Hebei Spirit owner launches legal action against SHI Sandra Speares - 金曜日 6 2月 2009
Firefighters clean up crude from the Hebei Spirit. pic: Bloomberg
HEBEI Ocean Shipping, owner of the Hebei Spirit, and its Oslo-based insurer Skuld, have launched a multi-million dollar recourse action against Samsung Heavy Industries, owner of the crane barge which struck the tanker in December 2007, causing a major oil spill.
A spokesman for Skuld confirmed that legal action was under way for “up to $400m” to recover money paid out, or to be paid out in future, under the Civil Liability and Fund Conventions, as well as other costs relating to the oil spill.
The International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds are also involved in the legal action, over which Samsung Heavy has made a disclosure to the Korean Stock Exchange. To date, Samsung’s disclosure only mentions a $200m claim from the IOPC Funds, and does not mention theHebei Spirit’s owner and insurer.
Proceedings have been commenced in the Ningbo Maritime Court, rather than the Korean courts, because the owners of the Hong Kong-flagged Hebei Spirit are Chinese, and Samsung also has interests in China, Skuld said.
IOPC Funds director Willem Oosterveen said it was the funds’ policy to take recourse action based on the likelihood of success, both in terms of legal action and recovering money paid out in claims.
While the funds were able to take recourse action in both Korea and China, he said there was a “realistic” chance of breaking Samsung’s limitation of liability in China, while this was not the case in Korea.
If limitation can be broken, the parties will be able to claim the full amount of costs from Samsung, as opposed to the $3.6m Samsung is liable to pay if limitation cannot be broken.
In its disclosure to the Korean Stock Exchange, Samsung said: “Because this lawsuit must have been determined by the Korean court in accordance with the relevant international laws, the lawsuit in China will be dismissed.”
Samsung Heavy also said: “Because the Chinese laws in regard to the limitation of liability for the maritime claims are almost the same as those of Korea, SHI’s liability will always be limited to the maximum extent ($3.6m) permitted by the laws.”
When asked for comment on Samsung’s statement, the Skuld spokesman said he would not prosecute the case through the media.
Commenting on the timing of the case, he said enough information was now known about the accident on which to build a case.
The combined total of compensation available from the Hebei Spirit’s insurers and the IOPC Funds is SDR203m or £215m ($317m).
Total costs of the spill are expected to exceed this limit, with an estimate by the fund last October suggesting claims could reach £289m.