Harbour Bd may pay out millions

Press, 6 April 1989, Page 3

Harbour Bd may pay out millions

PA Blenheim The Marlborough Harbour Board may have to pay millions of dollars over the sinking of the Mikhail Lermontov in Port Gore three years ago, legal sources say.

A New South Wales Supreme Court judge ruled on Tuesday that the board will have to pay for the value of the Soviet liner if it is found the board’s negligence caused the sinking. Mr Justice Carruthers granted an amendment allowing the ship’s owner, the Baltic Shipping Company, and charterer, C.T.C. Cruises, to increase their cross-claim against the board to include the multi-million-dollar

vessel. But what value would be placed on the 20,000tonne liner appears to be anyone’s guess. “How long is a piece of string?” was the answer given by Mr Leslie Goss, of Auckland, the manager of C.T.C. in New Zealand. He would not have a guess at the value but did say the ship, which was built in 1972, underwent a $2O million refit about six months before sinking. The Marlborough Harbour Board chairman, Mr Bruno Dalliessi, could not be reached for comment yesterday and neithercould the board’s legal representatives in Wellington. But a Blenheim lawyer told the “Marlborough Express” any judgment in Australia was generally readily enforceable in New Zealand. Baltic and C.T.C. are being sued by more than 120 Australians who were among the 410 passengers and crew rescued when the vessel sank after striking rocks in the Marlborough Sounds on February 16, 1986. The passengers are claiming for loss of personal effects, personal injuries, loss of the benefit of the cruise and a refund of their-full fares.