Collision between vessels
A collision between two ships, whose liability is split between the hull policy, for three quarters, and the protection and indemnity club for the balance.
Brussels Convention of September 23, 1910, Article 4: when both vessels are at fault, liability is apportioned in proportion to the degree of their respective faults, and equally if that degree cannot be established. All collision litigation between two ships therefore comes down to proving each side's breaches of the steering and sailing rules. Striking a quay, a lock or a platform is handled separately. On the insurance side, the split is historical: the hull policy takes three quarters of collision liability through its running down clause, the remaining quarter going to the P&I club, which also keeps the whole of fixed and floating object contact. That way no single underwriter carries an effectively unlimited liability next to a damage cover capped by the value of the ship. Then there is the both to blame collision clause in bills of lading, a product of American law, the United States never having ratified the convention. Cargo there can recover its full loss from the non-carrying vessel. That vessel recovers a share from the carrier, and the clause makes cargo pay that share back.
The collision between the container ship ACX Crystal and the American destroyer USS Fitzgerald off Yokosuka on June 17, 2017 cost seven sailors their lives and more than 300 million dollars in repairs. The Japanese and American investigations found failures of lookout and steering on both sides, the typical pattern for an apportionment of fault.
collision, running down clause, RDC, collision liability
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