Enemalta has estimated it will cost nearly €49 million to repair a damaged interconnector cable and provide an alternative source of power after a chemical tanker dragged its anchor off Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq in a March storm, according to documents presented in court.
The corporation, which supplies electricity to the country, is in a legal battle to recoup these costs.
The cable is still functional but needs to be repaired, with the works due to be undertaken later in the year when demand for electricity is lower.
The 202-metre-long tanker almost came aground on March 19 in heavy seas but was stopped a few metres from the shore by Tug Malta vessels in a major salvage operation.
The ship damaged the interconnector cable that runs between Malta and Sicily as it dragged its anchor.
The tugs had to pull the ship against the weather to relieve the tension off the anchor chain, which was lodged in the interconnector, the court heard.
Had the vessel not been restrained, the cable could have snapped as had, in fact, occurred in December 2019 when the anchor of the vessel Di Matteo had damaged the same interconnector close to Sicily. This had led to a complete blackout on the Maltese islands.
The damages sustained by Enemalta as a result of the Chem P incident were estimated at €48.7 million, Enemalta’s legal team told Mr Justice Grazio Mercieca.
The energy corporation had secured an arrest warrant against the tanker for €30 million, which was the amount of damages calculated at an earlier stage and included legal costs. This is the amount that would have to be guaranteed if the owners want their tanker back.
The tanker’s owners, RV International DMCC, incorporated in the United
Arab Emirates, had initially sought to lift the warrant of arrest but then filed another application invoking limitation of liability under the 1976 Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims.
This centuries-old concept allows vessels to limit liability in case of claims, based on a formula which is, in turn, based on the vessel’s tonnage.
According to lawyers Abigail Bugeja and John Bugeja, appearing for the tanker and its owners, the maximum liability their clients could face, based on this formula, was just over €17.3 million.
However, Enemalta’s lawyers, Ann Fenech, Adrian Attard, Yanica Barbara Sant and legal procurator Katrina Zammit Cuomo, argued that, though an owner had the right to invoke limitation under the limitation convention as applicable in Malta, the court needed to take into account the legal costs, including court fees, which were calculated at around €1.2 million. This had to be added to the liability as the ship had to cover these too.
The court upheld this argument and fixed the total at €18.5 million.
Mr Justice Mercieca also heard how the ship’s insurers, which provided a protection and indemnity insurance – equivalent to a motor vehicle’s third-party insurance – refused to put up security for Enemalta’s claim, leaving the vessels and its owners having to put up security themselves.
It is understood that, so far, the vessel has not put up security and the vessel remains under arrest.
The Chem P was built in 1968 and has a carrying capacity of 34,930 tonnes. It is valued at $7.8 million (€7.05m). It flies a St Kitts and Nevis flag. The ship was en route to Marsaxlokk from the Spanish port of Algeciras, in Cadiz.
The last tanker to run aground in Malta was the Hephaestus, a 60-metre vessel, in 2018.
It was stranded on the rocks after a heavy storm and remained stranded off Qawra point for six months before being removed.