Who's responsible - vessel, stevedore or port?

摘要

Afriend was working on an insurance claim in which a stevedore lost his life due to inadequate oxygen in the cargo hold. He asked my advice on who should be held responsible - the vessel, the stevedore or the port? I recapped the following two cases to help explain the situation, based on my experience. I am not debating here who is responsible from the legal claim perspective. I am more interested in clarifying whose responsibility it should be to ensure safety on board, with the objective of saving life. Let's go through the facts.