MAHAPATRA V TUI UK LTD

[2018] EWHC 3140 (Admlty), Queen’s Bench Division, Admiralty Court, Admiralty Registrar Jervis Kay QC, 16 November 2018

Admiralty – Passenger – Injury sustained at time of disembarkation from cruise ship – Meaning of port installation – Summary judgment – Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea 1974 – Merchant Shipping Act 1995, section 183

On 16 January 2015 while the defendant’s cruise ship Thomson Dream was lying alongside in the Port of Havana, Cuba, the claimant had disembarked from an exit in the side of the ship, had passed over the gangway between the ship and the permanent walkway, a fixed structure leading to the passenger terminus situated in the port. She had reached a position on that permanent walkway when she slipped and was injured. On 9 January 2017, the claimant issued a claim form against the defendant alleging that she slipped on standing water on what has been described as the “gangway”. Particulars of claim were served dated 2 May 2017. It was contended that the defendant was a carrier owing duties pursuant to the Athens Convention 1974 as enacted by section 183 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. Pursuant to article 1(8) of the convention carriage was defined as including “with regard to the passenger and his cabin luggage, the period during which the passenger and/or his cabin baggage are onboard the ship or in the course of embarkation or disembarkation”. It was pleaded for the claimant that, as she was in the course of disembarkation, the defendant was liable for the injury to her regardless of whether or not the defendant owned or operated the gangway in question. The defendant contended that the injury occurred on a part of the structure forming part of the port structure owned by the Cuban Ministry of Transportation and was outside the scope of the convention. Article 1(8) of the convention provided: “However with regard to the passenger, carriage does not include the period during which he is in a marine terminal or station or on a quay or in or on any other port installation”. The defendant sought summary judgment and the claimant cross-applied to amend her particulars of claim.