Transnet Limited t/a Portnet v The Owners of the mv Stella Tingas and Another (mv Atlantica)

Shortly after midnight on 17 June 1997 the bulk carrier mv Atlantica collided with the mv Stella Tingas in Durban harbour while the latter was berthed and loading cargo at Island View berth 3. Durban harbour is a compulsory pilotage port. The Atlantica was under the navigation of a compulsory pilot, Captain Buffard, an employee of Transnet Limited t/a Portnet. The collision occurred as the Atlantica was entering Island View Channel. Both vessels were damaged. The owners of the Stella Tingas sued the Atlantica in rem and Transnet in personam, alleging negligence by the pilot. Liability against Transnet was alleged on the basis that the pilot’s conduct amounted to gross negligence so as to avoid the statutory exemption from liability. The pilot died before trial, and his conduct was reconstructed from contemporaneous records and expert evidence.

Transnet’s appeal was upheld and the order holding it liable to the plaintiffs was set aside. The finding that the Atlantica was not liable to the plaintiffs stood, and the plaintiffs’ conditional cross‑appeal therefore failed. No liability was established against either Transnet or the Atlantica.

The case is a leading South African authority on the distinction between ordinary and gross negligence in maritime and delictual contexts. It clarifies the high threshold required to establish gross negligence and confirms the scope of statutory immunity afforded to harbour authorities and compulsory pilots. The judgment also affirms the primacy of South African statutory law over English admiralty law under the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act.