Decision ID: 003536

In October 2008 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that the insurer of the Volgoneft 139 had argued that the incident was wholly caused by a natural phenomenon (a storm that occurred on 11 November 2007) of an exceptional, inevitable and irresistible character and that therefore no liability should be attached to the shipowner pursuant to Article III.2(a) of the 1992 Civil Liability Convention. It was noted that the preliminary conclusions of the 1992 Fund’s experts were that the storm had not been exceptional, that it had been irresistible as far as the Volgoneft 139 was concerned because the conditions associated with the storm were in excess of the vessel’s design criteria and that it had not been inevitable that the ship would be caught in the storm. It was noted that if the Russian Courts were to agree with the Fund’s experts, the shipowner and the insurer would not be exonerated from liability for the incident.