Fortuna Seafoods Pty Ltd (As Trustee for the Rowley Family Trust) v The Ship "Eternal Wind" - Supreme Court of Queensland (Douglas J) - 14 January 2005 [2005] QSC 004

Tort - Duty of care - Economic loss - Vessel lost as result of collision - Whether negligent vessel owed duty of care to company sustaining pure economic loss as result of collision

On 5 April 1998 the fishing vessel Melina T was lost as the result of a collision with the vessel Eternal Wind. The Melina T was owned by Fortuna Fishing Pty Ltd ("Fortuna Fishing"). Fortuna Fishing's action against the owners of the Eternal Wind ("Ganta Shipping") was compromised. The present action was brought by a related company, Fortuna Seafoods Pty Ltd ("Fortuna Seafoods"), claiming as a separate loss the profit it would have earned from processing and selling seafood that it obtained from Fortuna Fishing and sold as its agent. The negligence of Ganta Shipping was not in issue.