Belships (Far East) Shipping (Pte) Ltd and Ors v Canadian Pacific Forest Products Ltd and Ors (The ‘Beltimber’) - Federal Court of Appeal (Stone, Linden and Letourneau JJA) - 10 June 1999

Deck cargo lost as a result of vessel’s negligent navigation - Whether carrier protected from liability by exclusion clause in bill of lading

The claimant shippers sought to recover damages from the defendant shipowners and charterers for the loss of a portion of a cargo of lumber to be carried on the deck of the vessel Beltimber from British Columbia to Antwerp. The claimants alleged that the defendants were negligent by virtue of faulty securing, maintenance and care of the cargo, by their negligent failure to heed weather forecasts known to them or which ought to have been known to them, and by their negligent care of the cargo in the last leg of the journey between Germany and Antwerp.