Asia Beni Steel Industries Pte Ltd and Another v Chua Chuan Leong Contractors Pte Ltd

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Goh Joon Seng J
• Judgment Date: 09 October 1996
• Neutral Citation: [1996] SGHC 227
• Docket Number: District Court Suit No 292 of 1994
• Date: 09 October 1996
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Year: 1996
• Plaintiff Counsel: Chan Kia Pheng (Yeo-Leong & Peh)
• Citation: [1996] SGHC 227
• Defendant Counsel: C Arul and Lim Tanguy Yuteck (C Arul & Partners)
• Court: High Court (Singapore)
• Subject Matter: Negligence,Whether defendants vicariously liable for damage,Tort,Damage to goods discharged from ship by labourers,Goods discharged by labourers supplied by defendants,Labourers supplied by defendants but under control and direction of other party,Vicarious liability,Whether damage resulted from defendants' breach of duty as bailees or negligence in discharge of goods,Causation,Lack of evidence as to when goods were damaged,Labourers 'temporary employees' of other party,Damage to goods discharged from ship

This was an appeal from the judgment of the court below dismissing the plaintiffs` claim for damage to their goods being 23 steel coils and 14 steel plates (the damaged goods).

The damaged goods were part of a consignment shipped under a bill of lading for 49 steel coils and 1491 steel plates (the cargo) on board the vessel the Atlantic Pride (the vessel) from Santos, Brazil, to Singapore. The cargo was consigned `To the order of` the second plaintiffs. Before the arrival of the cargo, the second plaintiffs sold the same to the first plaintiffs.

Some two days before the arrival of the vessel, the shipowner`s agent, Monson Agencies Pte Ltd (Monson), instructed Chuan Stevedoring Services to undertake the discharge of the cargo. Chuan Stevedoring Services in turn hired, from the defendants, stevedoring labourers and forklifts with drivers. By so doing the vessel was accorded priority in berthing at Berth No J6 under the defendants` special appropriated berth scheme agreement (the AB agreement) with the Jurong Town Corporation (JTC).

The vessel arrived on 24 January 1993 and accordingly berthed at Berth No J6 as a vessel nominated by the defendants. Discharge of the cargo began the next day and ended on 29 January 1993. The discharge was carried out by the stevedoring labourers supplied by the defendants, using the equipment hired from the defendants and Chuan Stevedoring Services` own special lifting equipment. Chua Cheng Chuan, an employee of Chuan Stevedoring Services, was in charge of the discharge operations. Other than nominating the vessel to be berthed at Berth No J6 and supplying the stevedoring labourers and the forklifts with drivers, the defendants had nothing to do with the discharge of the cargo.

After the cargo had been discharged from the vessel onto the wharf, it was stacked up in the open ground a short distance away from the wharf. No damage had been noted by any of the tallying clerks attending the discharge. If such damage had been noted, it would have been reported to Chua Cheng Chuan who would then have noted it in a survey report.

On 28 January 1993 the first plaintiffs gave notice of damage to Monson and to the insurers of the cargo. A survey was accordingly carried out by Michael Ho of Pacific-Indo Services Pte Ltd. The damaged goods were noted to have sustained damage as follows. The steel plates were noted to have buckled and or bent. The steel coils were noted to have buckled or bent or had cuts at the edges or ends. By agreement between the first plaintiffs and Michael Ho an allowance of 25% of the c & f invoice value of the damaged goods was arrived at. The insurers thus paid the first plaintiffs the sum of $29,615.83 and they were thereby subrogated to the rights of the first plaintiffs. The insurers then sought unsuccessfully to recover reimbursement of this payment from the defendants and accordingly commenced these proceedings in the subordinate courts in DC Suit No 292/94. In their statement of claim the plaintiffs alleged that the defendants as operators of Berth No J6 under the AB agreeement were responsible for the discharge, storage and delivery of the cargo and that the damaged goods sustained damage as a result of the defendants` breach of duty as bailees and/or negligence in the discharge and storage of the same.

To succeed in their claim against the defendants, the plaintiffs must establish the following:

(i) the defendants undertook the discharge of the damaged goods and or the warehousing of the same; and

(ii) the damage was caused by the defendants` negligent discharge of the damaged goods or breach of duty as bailees while the damaged goods were in their possession.

On (i), the learned judge below in finding for the defendants said:

The special appropriated berth scheme was basically a scheme giving priority in berthing. Under the scheme, the defendants had the choice of:

(a) doing the stevedoring work themselves or

(b) allowing the shipowners or the shipowners` agents to employ their own stevedores or

(c) to appoint other stevedoring companies to do the work.

In the case of the Atlantic Pride, the shipowners engaged the defendants for the purpose of obtaining priority in berthing the vessel. The vessel`s owners through their agent, Monson Agencies Pte Ltd, engaged Chuan Stevedoring Services to undertake the discharge and loading of the vessel. Chuan Stevedoring Services contracted with the defendants to supply

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