Exercising Due Diligence: When does the vessel come into the shipowner's 'orbit, service or control'?
Parsons Corporation & Others v C.V. Scheepvarrtonderneming Happy Ranger "Happy Ranger" [2006] EWHC 122 (Comm)
In principle a shipowner is not liable for defects in the construction of a vessel and should not be exposed to infinite liability in time for latent defects present in a vessel before taking possession of the vessel. In Parsons Corporation & Others v C.V. Scheepvarrtonderneming Happy Ranger "Happy Ranger" the English Commercial Court considered this concept in relation to Hague-Visby Article 3 Rule 1, a shipowners non-delegable duty to ensure the vessel is properly equipped and seaworthy before a voyage and held that when exercising due diligence a owner must be alive to information gained during the construction and testing of a vessel.
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