Sea Consortium Pte Ltd and Others v Bengal Tiger Line Pte Ltd and Others [2024] EWHC 3174 (Admlty) - Admiralty Division (Andrew Baker J) - 12 December 2024

Limitation - Meaning of "charterer" in definition of "shipowner" - Whether slot charterer was a "charterer"

The vessel X-Press Pearl was owned by EOS RO, bareboat-chartered to Killiney Shipping and time-chartered to Sea Consortium. All were claimants in the present case. X-Press Pearl caught fire on 20 May 2021 and sank on 2 June 2021 off Sri Lanka. At the time the vessel was carrying a cargo of containers under various contractual arrangements, and the containers were also lost.