Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
OIL POLLUTION
The Patmos
The facts
On 21 March 1985 the Greek tanker Patmos (51,627 tons gross) carrying over 83,000 tonnes of crude oil, was in collision with a Spanish tanker off the Calabrian coast in the Straits of Messina. Fire broke out on the main deck of the Patmos and the crew abandoned ship after three had died. About 700 tonnes of crude, owned by Esso Italiana, escaped. Most of it drifted out to sea and dispersed naturally, but a few tonnes came ashore on the Sicilian coast. The authorities declared a local state of emergency and undertook clean-up.
The ship drifted onto a nearby beach, but was refloated and tugs towed it in the Straits of Messina despite hull damage; within two days the fire had been extinguished. The Patmos was then towed to the port of Messina and moored at the SMEB yard, where the oil was discharged into other ships provided by Esso.
Claims were brought by a large number of interests against the shipowners under the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969 (“the Liability Convention”), and because these claims exceeded the limitation amount thereunder (13.2 billion lire), also against the International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund (“the IOPC Fund”). The full details of these claims can be found in the IOPC Fund’s document FUND/EXC. 16/4 of 22.9.86. Several aspects of the judgment of the court of first instance1 are currently under appeal to the Italian Court of Appeal, whose judgment is not expected before 1988, but nonetheless the first instance decision is of importance because of the way in which it dealt with a number of issues of wide significance for future claims under the Liability and Fund Conventions. This note is confined to such issues.
Salvage and prevention of pollution
A number of the claims, including those brought by SMEB and Esso, raised the question of the distinction between action taken to save a ship and/or cargo, and action taken to prevent pollution damage.2 In the case of a laden tanker like the Patmos, motives for taking action can be very mixed. How can one decide whether an expenditure is properly the subject of a salvage claim, or of a Liability Conven
1. 1st Civil Div., Messina, 18.7.86.
2. This is dealt with in D. W. Abecassis and R. L. Jarashow, Oil Pollution from Ships (Stevens & Sons, London, 1985), Chaps. 8 and 10.
275