Parker Distributors (Singapore) Pte Ltd v A/S D/S Svenborg and Another

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judge: Lai Kew Chai J
• Judgment Date: 28 April 1983
• Neutral Citation: [1983] SGCA 5
• Docket Number: Civil Appeal No 107 of 1980
• Date: 28 April 1983
• Year: 1983
• Published date: 19 September 2003
• Plaintiff Counsel: P Selvadurai (Rodyk & Davidson)
• Citation: [1983] SGCA 5
• Defendant Counsel: G Pannirselvam (Drew & Napier)
• Court: Court of Appeal (Singapore)
• Subject Matter: Goods lost or damaged due to breach on stowage,Limitation of liability,No provision regarding nature of goods in bill of lading,Carriage of goods by sea,Whether shipowners entitled to limit liability to US$500 per package,Admiralty and Shipping,s 4(5) Carriage of Goods by Sea Act [US]

Seventeen packages of Parker writing instruments belonging to the appellants were shipped from San Francisco, USA to Singapore on the respondents` vessel. It was a term of the contract of carriage that there would be `strong room or locker storage`. It was common ground that the goods were not so stowed as the vessel did not have a strong room nor any locker space. It was also admitted that when the goods arrived in Singapore five packages were lost and three were damaged resulting in a monetary loss of $86,086.15 to the appellants.

At the conclusion of the trial, the learned judge only awarded the appellants the sum of $7,274.11 and interest thereon on the basis that the respondents were entitled to limit their liability under the provision for limitation of US$500 per package as set out in s 4(5) of the US Carriage of Goods by Sea Act. Against this decision this appeal was brought.

The sole question for our decision is whether in the circumstances the respondents were entitled to invoke the subsection.

Counsel for the appellants contended before us that in failing to carry the goods in a strong room or a locker, the respondents were in breach of a term which went to the root of the contract and, being in fundamental breach, were disentitled to rely on the limitation provisions of s 4(5) of the Act. Since reference has to be made to the subsection, we set it out below:

Rights and immunities

Valuation of Cargo - Declaration of Excess Value

Section 4

(5) Neither the carrier nor the ship shall in any event be or become liable for any loss or damage to or in connection with the transportation of goods in an amount exceeding $500 per package lawful money of the United States or in case of goods not shipped in packages per customary weight unit or the equivalent of that sum in other currency, unless the nature and value of such goods have been declared by the shipper before shipment and inserted in the bill of lading.

We are of the view that the respondents were entitled to rely on the provisions of the subsection. We would give effect to the words `in any event` in the statute. The question whether the subsection applied to the breach in this case is a matter of construction of the contract: Photo Production Ltd v Securicor Transport Ltd [1980] 1 All ER 556. The subsection is clear and unambiguous. If the appellants or their shippers had wanted to avoid the limitation provisions, they or the shippers who had...