Opinion ID: 2960144
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Loss of the M/V DG Harmony

Text: The M/V DG Harmony (“Harmony”) was a 176.57 meters-long container ship registered in the Isle of Man and owned by Navigator Shipping Ltd. (“Navigator”), a subsidiary of Safmarine and CMBT Lines N.V. (“SCL”). Capable of carrying approximately 1800 standard containers, the Harmony was equipped with three separate holds, each of which was designed to carry dangerous goods. At the time of its destruction the Harmony was on charter to, inter alia, Di Gregorio Navegacao, Ltda., Cho Yang Shipping Co., and DSR-Senator Lines GmbH. Together, these owners and charterers (“the ship-owning interests”) are the ConsolidatedDefendants-Appellees in this action. The Harmony’s final voyage began in New York in late October 1998. Bound for points in South America, the Harmony made stops in Newport News, Savannah, and Miami. At these ports, the Harmony took on containers immuring cargo owned by various entities which, with one important exception, together comprise the Consolidated-Plaintiffs-Appellees in this action (“the cargo owners”). Although most of these cargoes proved innocuous, one did not; at Newport News, Virginia, the Harmony received and stowed, through its charterer Cho Yang Shipping Co., ten containers, each of which contained approximately 16,000 kilograms of 4 calcium hypochlorite (hydrated) (“calhypo”). The parties agree that this substance, manufactured and shipped by Defendant-Appellant PPG Industries, Inc. (“PPG”), precipitated the subsequent explosion and fire on the Harmony.1 On November 9, ten days after leaving Miami, the Harmony reached a point off the northern coast of Brazil. At approximately 7:20 a.m., an explosion ripped through the third hold. The Captain and crew of the Harmony, realizing that the third hold had caught fire, mobilized to fight the blaze. For nearly twelve hours, the full crew battled the flames, but their efforts were to no avail. Most of the crew abandoned ship at 6:00 p.m. that evening, and they were followed by the Captain and the remainder of the crew at 2:00 a.m. the next day. Although there were no casualties, the Harmony burned for three weeks. The fire resulted in a constructive total loss of both the vessel and its cargo.