Port pilots ordered to pay damages

The Court of Appeal yesterday confirmed a Magistrates' Court judgment ordering the Malta Maritime Pilots Cooperative Society Ltd to pay damages to a company after the pilots refused to unload merchandise in the port of Mgarr.

MMS Ltd had sued the Malta Maritime Authority and the pilots' cooperative claiming it had sustained damages of Lm2,583 following the cooperative's refusal to provide pilotage services to the vessel mv Audacious to allow it to enter Mgarr harbour.

The court heard that the vessel was carrying merchandise to be unloaded in Gozo for Joseph Caruana Ltd. The ship arrived in Maltese waters on December 13, 2003 but had to wait outside the ports due to bad weather. Three days later, the company had communicated with the pilots and the tug boat so that the vessel could enter Mgarr. However, the duty pilot told the company he had instructions not to go to Gozo. The MMA informed the company it had no information on the matter and the Director of Ports said his department was not responsible for the pilots. The Chief Pilot, in turn, said that the company had to deal with the MMA.

Faced with this situation, the company contacted the vessel's owners and was informed that if the vessel was not unloaded by December 16, 2003, it would either be unloaded in Grand Harbour or in another country. A director of Joseph Caruana Ltd told the company that it had been contracted to deliver the merchandise to Gozo and that the matter was therefore the company's responsibility.

In view of the lack of cooperation by the MMA and the pilots, the company accepted the merchandise to be unloaded in Malta. The company then engaged stevedores to deliver the merchandise to Gozo and paid Lm2,583 for this service.

The Magistrates' Court ruled that the MMA was not liable for the damages sustained by the company. The MMA had ruled that Mgarr harbour could be safely used for the unloading of merchandise in the case at issue. However, although the MMA had ordered the pilots' cooperative to provide pilotage services to mv Audacious, the pilots had refused to do so and would not say why. Nor had the pilots given notice of their refusal to pilot the vessel into Mgarr.

The court added that the refusal on the part of the pilots was not the result of some industrial action ordered by their union, but was the decision of the cooperative not to provide a service in a port which it deemed might be dangerous. However, the MMA had declared that there was no danger in commercial operations in that port.

The pilots, the court ruled, were bound to follow the instructions issued by the MMA, and the Magistrates' Court concluded that in this case, the pilots were not justified in refusing to provide a service.

The court therefore found in favour of the company and ordered the pilots' cooperative to pay the company the damages requested less Lm100 which was the cost of transportation of the merchandise from the port of Mgarr to Xewkija.

Mr Justice Philip Sciberras, sitting in the Court of Appeal (inferior jurisdiction), upheld the judgment of the Magistrates' Court. The pilots had undertaken to provide a service to the company but had failed to do so, even though, objectively, there was no impediment to this service, the judge ruled.

The court further reduced the sum awarded to the company by Lm15, representing VAT on the sum of Lm100 already deducted.