The“CMA CGM LIBRA”– Analysis of the impact on technical management practice of the UK Supreme Court’s decision that a defective passage plan may make a ship unseaworthy 1 April 2022 Shohei Tezuka Partner, Higashimachi LPC In November 2021, the UK Supreme Court delivered its decision in the “CMA CGM Libra” [1] that the Owners are liable for the grounding of the Vessel, which navigated outside of a buoyed and dredged fairway after departing port with a defective passage plan. The Owners argued that the defective passage plan was a matter that fell under the error in navigation exception under the Hague Rules and therefore they were not liable. However, the Court rejected the Owners’ submissions and held that they were in breach of the seaworthiness obligation. This judgment will have a material impact on the practice of ship operations, which will be discussed in this article. <FACTS> 1. The grounding and claims In May 2011, the container vessel “CMA CGM LIBRA”, loaded with 5,983 containers, grounded on a shoal outside of the buoyed and dredged fairway during its departure from the port of Xiamen, China on a voyage to Hong Kong. At the time of grounding, the Vessel’s even keel was 15.5 metres. Although the depth of the point of grounding was stated as being more than 30 metres on the printed chart equipped onboard the Vessel, there was actually a shoal of 1.2 metres depth less than a cable to her starboard, which was marked in the Notice to Mariners 1691/11 that will be described in further detail below. The Owners declared General Average and claimed against cargo interests in the sum of about US$ 13 million as their contributions. However, about 8% of the cargo interests, representing a sum of about US$ 800,000, rejected the claim on the grounds that the casualty was caused by the Vessel’s defective passage plan and that such defect amounted to the Owners’ failure to exercise due diligence to make the Vessel seaworthy. In response, the Owners commenced proceed