## Facts

- Deutsche Shell Tanker-Gesellschaft mbH owned the tanker *DIALA* and contracted to carry crude oil to Placid Refining Company’s refinery in Port Allen, Louisiana.
- The *DIALA* departed Scotland on May 21, 1983, and transited the Atlantic without incident.
- After entering the Mississippi River with a compulsory river pilot aboard, the ship experienced problems with its radar systems: the 10-cm radar failed after vibration in shallow water, and the 3-cm radar had a weak picture and later failed during a squall.
- The crew temporarily reconfigured the systems to obtain a picture on the 3-cm display, but the pilot, believing regulations required two operating radars and fearing a total loss of radar at night in traffic, refused to proceed and ordered the vessel to anchor.
- With the river at flood stage and strong current, the vessel failed to secure anchorage before being swept downstream and grounding.
- After extensive salvage over about a week, the vessel was refloated and the crude oil was ultimately delivered.
- Deutsche Shell demanded general average contribution from Placid for salvage expenses under a general average clause and incorporated rules; Placid refused, asserting (among other defenses) that the grounding was proximately caused by Deutsche Shell’s failure to exercise due diligence to keep radar equipment seaworthy under COGSA.
- The district court ruled for Placid, finding Deutsche Shell failed to prove a general average act and, alternatively, that inadequate radar maintenance and lack of due diligence were the proximate cause of the grounding.
- Deutsche Shell appealed; Placid cross-appealed on other issues.

## Issues

1. Whether a carrier may recover general average contribution from a cargo interest when the casualty and claimed general average event were proximately caused by the carrier’s failure to exercise due diligence to provide and maintain a seaworthy vessel under COGSA.
2. Whether the district court clearly erred in finding that Deutsche Shell’s inadequate maintenance of the 3-cm radar and resulting unseaworthiness proximately caused the grounding and related expenses.

## Decision

- The Fifth Circuit affirmed the judgment for Placid.
- The court held there was no reversible error in the district court’s determination that Deutsche Shell failed to establish entitlement to general average.
- The court also upheld the alternative finding that, even assuming a general average act occurred, Deutsche Shell’s lack of due diligence in maintaining seaworthy radar equipment was the proximate cause of the grounding, barring recovery.

## Legal Principles

- Under COGSA, the carrier has a non-delegable duty to exercise due diligence to make the vessel seaworthy before and at the beginning of the voyage, which includes essential navigational equipment such as radar.
- A carrier whose lack of due diligence and resulting unseaworthiness proximately cause the peril may not shift resulting losses to cargo interests through a general average claim.
- Appellate review of district court fact findings in admiralty is deferential; supported findings on causation and due diligence are not disturbed absent clear error.

## Conclusion

The Fifth Circuit left undisturbed fact findings that radar unseaworthiness attributable to the carrier’s inadequate maintenance triggered the events leading to grounding; because the carrier failed to exercise due diligence under COGSA and that failure was treated as the proximate cause, it could not obtain general average contribution from the cargo interest.


Deutsche Shell Tanker Gesellschaft mbH v. Placid Refin. Co., 993 F.2d 466 (5th Cir. 1993)