MSC to pay Uniworld crash damages
MSC Cruises has been ordered to reimburse Uniworld Boutique River Cruises €2.4 million ($3.75 million) to compensate the river cruise operator for lost earnings due to cruises which were cancelled when MSC Opera struck River Countess in Venice in 2019 ( CW 03 Jun 2019).
The incident, which saw the 2,679-pax Opera collide with the Uniworld vessel at San Basilio, forced the cancellation of a number of River Countess sailings.
MSC had previously accepted full liability for the incident, but was seeking clarity on whether it was required to pay Uniworld for the loss of future earnings, arguing this was not in accordance with Italian law.
As well as the cancelled cruises, damage to River Countess cost over €3m ($4.7m) to repair.
A judgement handed down in the UK’s Commercial & Admiralty Court last week found MSC was liable for both the physical damage to the vessel as well as some “non-physical damages”.
The crash saw River Countess out of service for the entire summer 201ϵ season, with a total of 14 cancelled cruises.
As well as the repair costs, the case saw Uniworld make claims for the loss of revenue from the aborted season, along with airline costs for cancelled or rebooked flights for 1,600 impacted passengers, full refunds made to the 28 passengers who were aboard River Countess at the time it was struck, and hospital bills for treatment of those injured.
MSC acknowledged the judgement, noting it had already accepted responsibility for the “unfortunate incident” and had already made some payments.
A lawyer representing Uniworld said the ruling was a “landmark decision that means our clients will be able to recover the substantial losses they faced as a result of an incident where they were entirely blameless”.
“Owners are finally being held to account for the actions of one of their vessels, and this case should act as a warning to other operators of ocean liners, not just in Venice but globally,” they said.
The incident was a key trigger for rising discontent about large vessels transiting Venice’s Giudecca Canal, ultimately leading to a ban being imposed effective from Aug this year ( CW 15 Jul).
Uniworld CEO Ellen Bettridge said it had taken an incident of this nature to bring about change in Venice, adding “it is testament to the quality of engineering of our luxury river vessel and its well-trained crew that no lives were lost”.