Bayside Towing Ltd and Ors v Canadian Pacific Railway and Anr (The ‘Sheena M’) - Federal Ct (Trial Div)(Hargrave P) - 2 February 2000

Limitation action - Damage to bridge caused by dumb barge under tow - Whether arguable case raised barring shipowners from obtaining limitation - Whether arguable case that limitation tonnage should be based on combined tonnage of tug and tow

The plaintiffs were said to have done some $5,000,000 damage to the Canadian Pacific Railway bridge at Mission, British Columbia, when the dumb barge Rivtow 901 towed by Bayside Towing Ltd’s tug Sheena M struck the bridge on 2 June 1999. The plaintiffs brought a limitation action pursuant to the 1976 Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims and subsequently constituted a limitation fund based on the tonnage of the tug alone.