The Goliath: High Court ruling confirms liability for expenses associated with wreck removal are not subject to limitation
The High Court handed down its decision in CSL Australia Pty Ltd v Tasmanian Ports Corporation Pty Ltd [2026] HCA 15 on 13 May 2026 in which the Court unanimously dismissed CSL’s appeal of the decision of the Full Court.
CSL, the owner and operator of MV Goliath, sought a declaration that it was entitled to limit its liability under the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 (Convention) for all claims arising out of the allision between MV Goliath and a wharf and two tugs, which sank and emitted diesel fuel and other hydrocarbons into the water. TasPorts, the owner and operator of the tugs and wharf, contended that its claims for the costs of and associated with the containment, removal and disposal of hydrocarbons, and the removal and disposal of the tugs (the Disputed Claims) were not limitable because they are claims within Art 2(1)(d) of the Convention to which Australia had exercised its right to exclude under Art 18 of the Convention.
Article 2 of the Convention lists the types of claims which are subject to a limitation of liability, which relevantly include:
(a) claims in respect of … damage to property … occurring on broad or in direct connexion with the operation of the ship or with salvage operations, and consequential loss resulting therefrom …
… (d) claims in respect of the raising, removal, destruction or the rendering harmless of a ship which is sunk, wrecked, stranded or abandoned.
Article 18 entitles state parties to the Convention to exclude the operation of (inter alia) subparagraph (d) of Article 2.
CSL contended that the effect of the reservation under Art 18(1) was to disapply Art 2(1)(d) in respect of all claims exclusively within Art 2(1)(d) but not claims within both Art 2(1)(d) and some other provision, in this instance Art 2(1)(a). TasPorts’ approach was that insofar as a claim is within both Art 2(1)(a) and (d), the consequence the exercise if the right under Art 18(1) was that the claim was excluded altogether.
In making its decision, High Court reasoned that Australia’s exercise of the right under Article 18(1) to exclude the application of Article 2(d) and (e) is to be construed in the context of Articles 1 and 2(1)(a)-(f) as a whole. In doing so, the effect of excluding the application of Art 2(1)(d) and (e) is an exclusion in entirety, encompassing all claims within the scope of Art 2(1)(d) and (e) even where such claims may also fall under another subparagraph of Art 2(1).
In reaching this conclusion, the High Court considered the benefit of bringing the law of Australia into line with the international decisions on the issue, including the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal case of The Star Centurion (2023) 26 HKCFAR 297 and two unanimous decisions of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands.
In its consideration of the travaux preparatoires, the High Court found that the effect a State Party exercising the right under Art 18(1) was no different from the effect of Art 2(1)(d) and (e) being relocated to Art 3 (claims excepted from limitation), except in that State Parties had a choice to exclude claims Art 2(1)(d) and (e). The Court noted that if this was not the case, the travaux preparatoires could be expected to have disclosed material consideration of any such functional difference between Arts 2(1)(d) and (e) and Art 3. Further, the travaux preparatoires for the later amendment of Art 18 to include the right to exclude claims for damage within the meaning of the 1996 Hazardous and Noxious Substances convention confirms the common assumption of the functional equivalence between an exclusion under Art 3 and the right of reservation under Art 18.
The High Court’s decision confirms the Full Court’s decision in Tasmanian Ports Corporation Pty Ltd v CSL Australia Pty Ltd (The Goliath) [2025] FCAFC 53 that shipowners and their insurers remain exposed to uncapped liability for expenses associated with wreck removal.
Contacts
Gerry Tzortzatos
+61 2 9230 9445
Angela Lane
+61 2 9230 9400