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High Court awards GPL more than $250M for damage to submarine cable by Dutch vessel
Kaieteur News- High Court Justice Nareshwar Harnanan has ruled in favour of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL) awarding the company over $250 million for the damage to its submarine cable by The Netherlands vessel Vlistdiep.
According to the details outlined in the Statement of Claim, filed by attorneys representing GPL, Mr. Devindra Kissoon and Ms. Natasha Vieira, the damage was caused on November 27, 2020, at approximately 07.08 hours, when the ship negligently dropped her anchor over the location of the submarine cable and continued to move into and along the Demerara River, causing her anchor to drag along the bottom of the river whereby it became entangled and broke the “69kv Submarine Cable”.
Attorney Devindra Kissoon
After that, the Berbice Interconnected System shut down and thereby caused severe disruptions in the Demerara Interconnected System. During these periods of interruptions, which lasted approximately two hours, a total of 136,083 customers were affected.
GPL, through its lawyers, contended that the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD) had published admiralty charts – which clearly showed the location of the 69kv submarine cable – and accordingly, the ship knew or ought to have known of the location of the cable and that its actions would have damaged it.
As such, GPL alleged that due to the negligence of the ship’s employees, it failed to anchor outside of the designated area marked on the MARAD admiralty maps. They also failed to secure the anchor securely during short passages; failed to ensure that the anchor was secured in a designated area; failed to use correct navigation practices and passage planning to avoid the disruption of the 69kV submarine cable; failed to adhere to the Kingston to Vreed-en-Hoop notices to mariners warning of subsea cables and other underwater obstructions; failure to consult MARAD and/or heed MARAD notices concerning the position and condition of subsea cables; failure to employ a tug when proceeding up the communication channel among other things.
In response to the claims, the company’s attorney, Nigel Hughes argued that the case was bad in law and that the ship was not responsible for the damage, but was under the control of a MARAD third party pilot. In their defence, the defendant claimed that the vessel remained anchored at the location directed by the pilot and consistent with all applicable maritime regulations.
Attorney Natasha Vieira
Hughes argued that the rising tide effected a change in the direction of the defendant’s vessel whereupon the defendant notified the assigned and designated pilot of the change in circumstances. The designated pilot assumed the command control of the vessel and was at all material times in command and control of the vessel. Any damage as alleged by the claimant was not occasioned as a result of negligence and or any act of omission of the defendant.
Attorney Nigel Hughes
In his oral ruling, Justice Harnanan found that a submarine cable running along the river floor of the Demerara River, owned by GPL, was damaged by the anchor of the defendant ship, a vessel sailing under the flag of The Netherlands. He noted among other things, that the MARAD officers established that if there was proper lookout it would have immediately been noticed and the master needed to take appropriate action.
“The evidence by the Claimant establishes on balance of problem that the ship did not satisfy this duty. Nor did it have the proper navigational charts. In the circumstances, the Court found the ship negligent in not taking reasonable care to avoid the underwater cable, severing the cable and resulting in substantial loss and damage to GPL,” the judge said.
(High Court awards GPL more than $250M for damage to submarine cable by Dutch vessel)
(High Court awards GPL)
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