Federal Commerce & Navigation Ltd. v. Suisse Atlantique Societe D’Armement S.A. (The Cruziero do Sul) - Court of Appeal (Lord Denning M.R., Griffiths and Kerr L.JJ.) - 2 March 1982

Arbitrators find no break in chain of causation - Whether special case may be stated

The vessel Cruzeiro do Sul was time-chartered to take a cargo of pipes from Hamburg to Mexico. In the Bay of Biscay a number of pipes which had been loaded on deck were lost and the rest became loose. The vessel put into Bilbao where the cargo was re-stowed. After leaving Bilbao, the vessel met with a storm and again the pipes became loose and some were lost. The arbitrators found that the first incident was caused as a result of improper stowage at Hamburg for which the charterers were responsible, and that the loss in the second incident was also due to the original bad stowage. The arbitrators refused to state a special case because they found: