Unseaworthiness
The condition of a ship unfit for the voyage undertaken, whether in hull, equipment, crew or cargoworthiness.
The CMA CGM Libra, United Kingdom Supreme Court, November 10, 2021: a defective passage plan is enough to make the vessel unseaworthy. The owner loses the general average contribution of about 13 million dollars it was claiming from cargo interests after the May 2011 grounding on leaving Xiamen. Unseaworthiness is the ship's unfitness for the voyage undertaken, and it reaches well beyond the hull: an inadequately trained crew, defective operating documentation, a fire-fighting system out of service or holds unfit for the goods will do. The Hague-Visby Rules ask the carrier for due diligence, before and at the beginning of the voyage, and not for a result. If it fails, it loses the defenses and limits it could otherwise have invoked. In cargo insurance, unseaworthiness is excluded only where the assured was privy to it at the time of loading, which protects the good-faith shipper, who has no control over the ship. In hull insurance, English law historically made it an implied warranty in voyage policies. The Insurance Act 2015 softened that mechanism: cover is suspended during the breach instead of discharged.
In The CMA CGM Libra, the United Kingdom Supreme Court held on November 10, 2021 that a defective passage plan made the vessel unseaworthy. The owner was claiming a general average contribution of about 13 million dollars from cargo interests after the May 2011 grounding on leaving Xiamen. It lost that claim for want of due diligence.
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