Emergency Contact Limits of liability for shipping incidents are increased with the adoption of amendments to 1996 Protocol to the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) Home Latest updates News Limits of liability for shipping incidents are increased with the adoption of amendments to 1996 Protocol to the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) 11 May 2015 Download Sign up for alerts Increased limits of liability enter into force in June 2015 Historically, ship owners were unable to limit their liabilities and each individual country applied its own national laws in response to maritime casualties. The idea of a uniform regime for the limitation of liability was first addressed at the Geneva Convention in 1924 and the limitation amount at that time was based on the value of the ship post-casualty i.e. 'abandonment'. Tonnage related limits were introduced at the Brussels convention in 1957 but Governments quickly felt that the limits set in 1957 were too low and out of line with inflation and in 1976 the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC) set specific but increased tonnage-based limits which provided for the maximum financial liability of ship owners and salvors in respect claims arising out of maritime incidents. When the International Maritime Organization (IMO) met in London in April 2012 they adopted  certain amendments to the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on LLMC which are to take effect in June 2015 and which substantially increase the limits of liability which ship owners face. The convention relates to claims for both loss of life and personal injury, and to claims for damage to property. These increased limits were deemed necessary because the existing limitation thresholds were found to be inadequate to respond to the increasing cost of claims especially in relation to pollution and clean up costs arising from bunker spills. For example, in March 2009, the ‘Pacific