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Editor: Rod Sullivan
Profession: Maritime Attorney

Category: Shipyard Accidents & Longshoreman Injuries

One of the reasons why lifting a boat from the water is so hazardous is that it stresses the boat in ways for which the boat is typically not designed. Boats are designed to support their weight over the length of a fairly buoyant and broad hull. When all that weight is concentrated at just two, or even three points, one tends to find out where the weak spots are. Such was the case of a used Italian Azimut motor yacht which was being shipped by an Arab sheik to its new American owner. The new owner had booked space on the deck of a containership which was loading in Italy. The Arab sheik had his crew deliver the boat alongside the containership and a cradle was built on deck to carry it.

A large, floating crane was then brought alongside the ship to load the yacht. However, as the yacht was being lifted out of the water, the compression from the lifting straps, which weren't adequately spread apart, crushed the hull.

Almost as bad is what happened after that. Buried in the fine print of American law is an statute called the "Carriage of Goods by Sea Act." Originally designed to protect Americans against overreaching by foreign shipowners, the Act now does the reverse. Buried in its provisions is a section which permits shipowners, who are almost all foreign, to limit their liability for damage to cargo owners, who are almost all American, to $500 "per package or customary freight unit" An American court decided that even though the freight was based upon the size of the yacht, that a yacht was a "package" and permitted the shipowner to pay only $500 for all the damage.