NAUTICAL CHALLENGE LTD V EVERGREEN MARINE (UK) LTD (THE “ALEXANDRA 1” AND “EVER SMART”)

[2022] EWHC 206 (Admlty), Queen's Bench Division, Admiralty Court, Sir Nigel Teare sitting as a Judge of the High Court with Commodore Walworth and Captain Barker, Elder Brethren of Trinity House, as Nautical Assessors, 8 February 2022

Admiralty – Collision – Liability – Apportionment – Compelling necessity to disapply the crossing rule

This was the redetermination of the issue of apportionment in the litigation, following the Supreme Court decision in [2021] UKSC 6, reported at [2021] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 299, wherein it was held that the crossing rule applied, and that Alexandra 1 was subject to the crossing rule if moving so as to involve a risk of collision while waiting for a pilot in the designated waiting area. The factual background was the collision between the two vessels Alexandra 1 and Ever Smart just outside the dredged channel of the port of Jebel Ali in the UAE on 11 February 2015.