Subscribe to our Mailing Lists (It's free!)
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
SAFETY4SEA
  • Home
  • Safety
    • All
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
    2024 IMO Bravery Awards honor tanker and tugboat crews for heroic acts

    Officer to receive IMO bravery award for saving 12 crew members

    Panama

    BMA: Sanctions imposed against Russia

    Work,Safety,Concept.,Wooden,Cube,Blocks,With,Icon,Of,Safety

    DNV: Key IMO safety developments

    seafarers

    Philippines DMW issues call to protect seafarers from warlike areas

  • SEAFiT
    • All
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
    friendship

    Exploring the human need for friendship: A lifeline at sea and on shore

    neck pain

    Neck pain: A growing health concern for maritime workers

    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: Feel grounded and think positive in 10 simple steps

    time

    Stay SEAFiT: Time is non-renewable – invest it wisely

  • Green
    • All
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
    ammonia bunkering vessel

    Company orders ammonia bunkering vessel for use in Singapore

    WSC

    WSC proposes alignment of EU ETS with IMO Net Zero Framework

    IMO Council World Maritime Day

    IMO: World Maritime Day two-year theme to take policy to practice

    BIMCO FuelEU Maritime Regulation

    EU issues low-carbon hydrogen fuel standards

  • Smart
    • All
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
    vr training

    Companies team up for virtual reality training to better prepare crew

    digital tools onboard

    Company signs for AI autonomous navigation system for PCTC fleet

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    floating data centres

    New partnership to develop floating data center on retrofitted vessel

  • Risk
    • All
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
    AMSA fine

    NorthStandard: Tips to avoid pollution fines in Turkey

    OCIMF

    OCIMF Annual Report 2025: SIRE 2.0 a welcome change for the industry

    USCG

    ABS PSC Report Q1 2025: 526 total vessels detained

    paris mou lists

    Paris MoU 2024 Performance lists

  • Others
    • All
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
    China

    China lays out vision for smarter and greener shipping

    Sanctions Russia

    EU plans to impose new Russian oil price cap

    EU US

    US plans to hit EU and Mexico with 30% tariff starting August

    Dr. Rosalie Balkin

    Dr. Rosalie Balkin to receive IMO International Maritime Prize

  • Columns
    Career Paths: Syb ten Cate Hoedemaker, Maritime Battery Forum

    Career Paths: Syb ten Cate Hoedemaker, Maritime Battery Forum

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    NorthStandard: Data sharing to drive technology and improve crew wellbeing

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    Trending Tags

    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • Events
  • Plus
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Safety
    • All
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
    2024 IMO Bravery Awards honor tanker and tugboat crews for heroic acts

    Officer to receive IMO bravery award for saving 12 crew members

    Panama

    BMA: Sanctions imposed against Russia

    Work,Safety,Concept.,Wooden,Cube,Blocks,With,Icon,Of,Safety

    DNV: Key IMO safety developments

    seafarers

    Philippines DMW issues call to protect seafarers from warlike areas

  • SEAFiT
    • All
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
    friendship

    Exploring the human need for friendship: A lifeline at sea and on shore

    neck pain

    Neck pain: A growing health concern for maritime workers

    Book Review: Building leaders the MMMA way

    Book Review: Feel grounded and think positive in 10 simple steps

    time

    Stay SEAFiT: Time is non-renewable – invest it wisely

  • Green
    • All
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
    ammonia bunkering vessel

    Company orders ammonia bunkering vessel for use in Singapore

    WSC

    WSC proposes alignment of EU ETS with IMO Net Zero Framework

    IMO Council World Maritime Day

    IMO: World Maritime Day two-year theme to take policy to practice

    BIMCO FuelEU Maritime Regulation

    EU issues low-carbon hydrogen fuel standards

  • Smart
    • All
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
    vr training

    Companies team up for virtual reality training to better prepare crew

    digital tools onboard

    Company signs for AI autonomous navigation system for PCTC fleet

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    Trafigura, ZeroNorth join forces to advance decarbonization solutions

    floating data centres

    New partnership to develop floating data center on retrofitted vessel

  • Risk
    • All
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
    AMSA fine

    NorthStandard: Tips to avoid pollution fines in Turkey

    OCIMF

    OCIMF Annual Report 2025: SIRE 2.0 a welcome change for the industry

    USCG

    ABS PSC Report Q1 2025: 526 total vessels detained

    paris mou lists

    Paris MoU 2024 Performance lists

  • Others
    • All
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
    China

    China lays out vision for smarter and greener shipping

    Sanctions Russia

    EU plans to impose new Russian oil price cap

    EU US

    US plans to hit EU and Mexico with 30% tariff starting August

    Dr. Rosalie Balkin

    Dr. Rosalie Balkin to receive IMO International Maritime Prize

  • Columns
    Career Paths: Syb ten Cate Hoedemaker, Maritime Battery Forum

    Career Paths: Syb ten Cate Hoedemaker, Maritime Battery Forum

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    NorthStandard: Data sharing to drive technology and improve crew wellbeing

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    GSR Services: The Hong Kong Convention sets the rules for total ship lifecycle responsibility

    Trending Tags

    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • Events
  • Plus
No Result
View All Result
SAFETY4SEA

New rules issued on Disclosure and Volcafe

by The Editorial Team
May 17, 2019
in Shipping
SCBA crew member
FacebookTwitterEmailLinkedin

The UK P&I Club explores the new rules on disclosure recently introduced in the English Commercial Court, analyzing the rules’ impact on cargo claims, especially ahead of the recent Supreme Court decision in Volcafe Ltd & Others v. Compania Sud Americana De Vapores SA [2018] UKSC 61.

According to the English law, the position has always been that all documents, correspondence and other materials regarding a case are disclosable, unless a narrow exception such as ‘privilege’ applies. Disclosure in court litigation occurs when legal pleadings are closed. The new rules on disclosure now mandate disclosure of documents at a much earlier stage.

[smlsubform prepend=”GET THE SAFETY4SEA IN YOUR INBOX!” showname=false emailtxt=”” emailholder=”Enter your email address” showsubmit=true submittxt=”Submit” jsthanks=false thankyou=”Thank you for subscribing to our mailing list”]

The Volcafe case is important to the question of ‘who has the burden of proving what’ when damage takes place to cargo during carriage. The Supreme Court analysed the relevance of the English common law of bailment, the burden of proof under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules (the Hague Rules) and the interplay between a carrier’s duties and the defences/exceptions available to the carrier  under the Hague Rules.

RelatedNews

Ireland’s largest drug smuggling plot leads to eight men in jail

Crew member jailed for modifying mask linked to colleague’s death

Despite the fact that the rules on disclosure in arbitration proceedings have not changed, the Volcafe case could have an impact on how arbitrations are run as the decision brings in a shift in the parties’ burdens of proof.

Volcafe case

As the UK P&I Club explains, the claim in Volcafe was a typical cargo claim involving bagged coffee shipped in standard unventilated containers from Colombia to Bremen in Germany during the winter of 2012.

Upon outturn, a small number of bags had sustained wet damage. The carrier was obliged under the contract of carriage to line the containers with paper to protect the cargo against condensation damage. The claimants claimed that the carrier was breaching its obligation in failing to carefully and adequately prepare the containers.

The trial judge concluded that the evidence did not establish what thickness of paper, nor how many layers were used, nor what ought to have been done to protect the cargo. As a result, he could not determine if the steps taken to protect the cargo were meeting the industry practice or were enough.

The Supreme Court stated that a bill of lading contract is a contract of bailment and the burden of proof in bailment is not changed by the Hague Rules, which are concerned with the standard of performance.

The court decided that the carrier had the legal burden of proving that it had not been negligent in its care of the cargo before it could rely on an Article IV Rule 2 Hague Rules exception. It was not for the cargo owner to prove that the carrier had been negligent.

The new Disclosure Scheme under the Civil Procedure Rules

The main purpose behind the new disclosure rules is to limit the costs and the time burdens under the current rules. The duties owed by parties and their legal representatives on disclosure and preservation of documents are now expressly set out in the rules. Namely:

  • Parties must now provide written confirmation that they have preserved all documents that may be relevant to the proceedings;
  • Parties will now normally have to provide disclosure – known as Initial Disclosure – with their particulars of claim or defence.

In brief, disclosure of evidence by parties must now generally take place at a much earlier stage in proceedings. Relevant documents may include communications by text messaging, social media and/or instant messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, WeChat and Line. These are disclosable even if the mobile phone in question is not in the control of the defendant or plaintiff company.  Companies must therefore ensure that they have a policy for employees to save and preserve communications on their electronic devices.

Initial Disclosure

‘Initial Disclosure’ requires a party to prepare a list which contains electronic copies of key documents on which that party seeks to rely in support of its claim or defence. It also includes key documents which are necessary to enable the other party to understand the claim or defence to be met. Previous requirements for searches to be made for further documents no longer apply. Instead, parties now have to give brief descriptions of the searches they conducted in creating the lists of documents served with their submissions.

Do adverse documents need to be disclosed at Initial Disclosure? The rules are not clear on this point but the current view is ‘no’, although such documents will need to be disclosed later in proceedings if the claim progresses.

Either party can apply for “Extended Disclosure” if it wants to seek documents in addition to what is provided under Initial Disclosure, but it is worth noting that the new equivalent of the old “standard disclosure” is no longer to be considered the default option. Instead, parties are expected to look to the request-based model of disclosure seen in arbitration proceedings.

In arbitration cases involving cargo damage resulting from a breach of an Article III Rule 2 obligation, parties now have to be prepared for wider and earlier disclosure as a result of the decision in Volcafe.

Conclusion

Concluding, the UK Club says that in order to deal with claims effectively, the following measures should be taken:

  • Gather as much evidence of any incident as soon as possible;
  • Obtain comprehensive contemporaneous survey reports, with photographs;
  • Request surveyors/agents to retain any physical evidence that may be relevant;
  • In the case of containerised cargoes, check containers regularly and, if relevant,  download any data logs at an early stage;  ensure that all container and pre-trip inspections are well documented;
  • Note and retain any guidelines and/or industry practice on the carriage of the particular goods and check whether any industry practices and/or loss prevention guidelines were, in fact, complied with;
  • Consider whether it is appropriate to ask the shipper for information on how to care for the goods – and retain a written record of their comments;
  • Consider whether any actions of other parties may have contributed to the damage caused e.g.  terminal operators, stevedores etc.  Again, any documentary evidence should be requested and retained.

The effect of Volcafe and the new disclosure rules is that more upfront work may be required to ensure that all relevant documents are considered and collected timely. This change may prompt earlier settlement discussions as parties consider potential costs savings in avoiding earlier disclosure requirements

the Club stated.

New rules issued on Disclosure and VolcafeNew rules issued on Disclosure and Volcafe
New rules issued on Disclosure and VolcafeNew rules issued on Disclosure and Volcafe
Tags: courtUKUK Club
Previous Post

MSC Cruises funds Cayman Islands’ cruise berthing project

Next Post

Safe boating in Vancouver: The rules of water

SUGGESTED FOR YOU

fire
Accidents

Fire onboard cargo vessel in Hull gets dealt with

June 30, 2025
UK sanctions
Shipping

UK ramps up pressure with new sanctions against Russia

June 18, 2025
LCO2 carrier
Fuels

UK P&I Club: The rise of LCO₂ shipping

June 16, 2025
Solong captain
Accidents

Cargo ship captain involved in North Sea collision pleads not guilty

June 2, 2025
sanctions
Shipping

UK announces new sanctions package against Russia

May 21, 2025
eu uk
Shipping

UK and EU agree to strengthen cooperation and expand assets

May 20, 2025

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Explore more

No Result
View All Result
MARITIME EVENTS

Explore

  • Safety
  • SEAFiT
  • Green
  • Smart
  • Risk
  • Others
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

Useful Links

  • About
  • Disclaimer
  • Editorial Policies
  • Advertising
  • Content Marketing
  • Contact

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA

No Result
View All Result
  • Safety
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
  • SEAFiT
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
  • Green
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
  • Smart
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
  • Risk
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Case Studies
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
  • Others
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
  • Columns
    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Opinions
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Tip of the day
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA

Manage your privacy
We use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. We do this to improve browsing experience and to show (non-) personalized ads. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Manage options
{title} {title} {title}
No Result
View All Result
  • Safety
    • Accidents
    • Alerts
    • Loss Prevention
    • Maritime Health
    • Regulation
    • Safety
    • Seafarers
    • Security
  • SEAFiT
    • Intellectual
    • Mental
    • Physical
    • Social
    • Spiritual
  • Green
    • Arctic
    • Ballast
    • Emissions
    • Fuels
    • Green Shipping
    • Pollution
    • Ship Recycling
    • Technology
  • Smart
    • Connectivity
    • Cyber Security
    • E-navigation
    • Energy Efficiency
    • Maritime Software
    • Smart
  • Risk
    • CIC
    • Detentions
    • Fines
    • PSC Case Studies
    • PSC Focus
    • Vetting
  • Others
    • Diversity in shipping
    • Maritime Knowledge
    • Offshore
    • Ports
    • Shipping
    • Sustainability
    • Videos
  • Columns
    • Anchor Your Health
    • Book Review
    • Career Paths
    • Human Performance
    • Industry Voices
    • Interviews
    • Maripedia
    • Maritime History
    • Opinions
    • Regulatory Update
    • Resilience
    • Seafarers Stories
    • SeaSense
    • Tip of the day
    • Training & Development
    • Wellness Corner
    • Wellness Tips
  • SAFETY4SEA Events
  • SAFETY4SEA Plus Subscription

© 2025 SAFETY4SEA