SEALOADER SHIPPING CORPORATION vs GRAND CEMENT MANUFACTURING CORPORATION (TRANSPORTATION LAW)

G.R. No. 167363               December 15, 2010

SEALOADER SHIPPING CORPORATION, Petitioner,
vs.
GRAND CEMENT MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, JOYCE LAUNCH & TUG CO., INC., ROMULO DIANTAN & JOHNNY PONCE, Respondents.

LEONARDO-DE CASTRO, J.:

FACTS:

Sealoader Shipping Corporation (Sealoader) is a domestic corporation engaged in the business of shipping and hauling cargo from one point to another using sea-going inter-island barges.  Grand Cement Manufacturing Corporation (now Taiheiyo Cement Philippines, Inc.), on the other hand, is a domestic corporation engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling cement through its authorized distributors and, for which purposes, it maintains its own private wharf in San Fernando, Cebu, Philippines.  On March 24, 1993, Sealoader executed a Time Charter Party Agreement with Joyce Launch and Tug Co., Inc. (Joyce Launch), a domestic corporation, which owned and operated the motor tugboat M/T Viper. By virtue of the agreement, Sealoader chartered the M/T Viper in order to tow the former’s unpropelled barges for a minimum period of fifteen days from the date of acceptance, renewable on a fifteen-day basis upon mutual agreement of the parties. Subsequently, Sealoader entered into a contract with Grand Cement for the loading of cement clinkers and the delivery thereof to Manila. On March 31, 1994, Sealoader’s barge, the D/B Toploader, arrived at the wharf of Grand Cement tugged by the M/T Viper. The D/B Toploader, however, was not immediately loaded with its intended cargo as the employees of Grand Cement were still loading another vessel, the Cargo Lift Tres.

On April 4, 1994, Typhoon Bising struck the Visayas area. Public storm signal number 3 was raised over the province of Cebu. The D/B Toploader was, at that time, still docked at the wharf of Grand Cement. In the afternoon of said date, as the winds blew stronger and the waves grew higher, the M/T Viper tried to tow the D/B Toploader away from the wharf. The efforts of the tugboat were foiled, however, as the towing line connecting the two vessels snapped. This occurred as the mooring lines securing the D/B Toploader to the wharf were not cast off. The following day, the employees of Grand Cement discovered the D/B Toploader situated on top of the wharf, apparently having rammed the same and causing significant damage thereto. On October 3, 1994, Grand Cement filed a Complaint for Damages against Sealoader; Romulo Diantan, the Captain of the M/T Viper; and Johnny Ponce, the Barge Patron of the D/B Toploader.

ISSUE:

            Whether Sealoder exercise the extra ordinary diligence required.

RULING:

            No, the Court finds that Sealoader was indeed guilty of negligence in the conduct of its affairs during the incident in question.  In Layugan v. Intermediate Appellate Court, the Court defined negligence as "the omission to do something which a reasonable man, guided by those considerations which ordinarily regulate the conduct of human affairs, would do, or the doing of something which a prudent and reasonable man would not do, or as Judge Cooley defines it, ‘The failure to observe for the protection of the interests of another person, that degree of care, precaution, and vigilance which the circumstances justly demand, whereby such other person suffers injury.’"

           The Court holds that Sealoader had the responsibility to inform itself of the prevailing weather conditions in the areas where its vessel was set to sail. Sealoader cannot merely rely on other vessels for weather updates and warnings on approaching storms, as what apparently happened in this case. Common sense and reason dictates this. To do so would be to gamble with the safety of its own vessel, putting the lives of its crew under the mercy of the sea, as well as running the risk of causing damage to the property of third parties for which it would necessarily be liable.