FIMBank Plc v KCH Shipping Co. Ltd (The Giant Ace) [2024] UKSC 38

Summary

The Supreme Court today handed down judgment in FIMBank Plc. v KCH Shipping Co. Ltd, holding that the time bar in Article III rule 6 of the Hague and the Hague-Visby Rules will apply to claims in relation to misdelivery after discharge, as well as to any other breaches of duty by the carrier which occur after discharge but before delivery. The Court rejected the argument that the time bar only applies to liabilities incurred after loading and up to discharge, during the so-called “period of responsibility” under the Rules. 

As it was put by Lord Hamblen (at [107]) the Article III Rule 6 time bar applies “to breaches of duty by the carrier which occur after discharge but before or at the time of delivery, including misdelivery” and it “may equally apply to breaches of duty which occur before loading” where the claim has “a sufficient nexus with identifiable goods carried or to be carried”.

The Court’s decision finally resolves an important question which has divided leading academic commentators as well as judges in other common law jurisdictions and clarifies the concept of the so-called “period of responsibility” under the Rules, which had led the Court of Appeal to distinguish the position under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules.