Decisión nº: 000968

In February 1999 the 1971 Fund Executive Committee considered the admissibility of a claim by Elf UK Oil Ltd for the additional cost of chartering a double-hulled vessel at a premium rate. The Committee noted that claimant had stated that the premium rate was paid as a result of a combination of a decision to charter a double-hulled vessel ‘as a safeguard against risks, considering that the highest standards would be prudent in the circumstances’ and ‘a reluctance at the time on the part of the shipowner to take on a voyage to Milford Haven due to the circumstances’. The Committee decided that these costs could not be considered as falling within the definition of ‘pollution damage’ and therefore rejected the claim.