Judge awards GPL $205M in damages for submarine cable severed by ship

January 21 2025- The Demerara High Court has ruled in favour of the Guyana Power and Light (GPL), awarding the utility company over $205 million in damages and an additional $3 million in legal costs.

The case arose after a Netherlands-registered vessel, Vlistdiep, caused extensive damage to the
company’s critical underwater cable in the Demerara River.

On November 27, 2020, the 69-kilovolt (KV) submarine cable, a vital part of GPL’s electricity grid, was
severed when the Vlistdiep dropped its anchor in the Demerara River.

The damage resulted in significant disruptions, including a power outage that lasted two hours and
affected approximately 136,083 customers.

The cable’s destruction not only caused widespread inconvenience but also interrupted the Berbice
Interconnected System, forcing the Demerara Interconnected System offline.

Authorities detained the vessel following the incident, but it was later released after the issuance of
a letter of undertaking by North P&I  Club.

GPL [the claimant] subsequently filed a lawsuit against the ship’s owners on April 2, 2021.

Justice Nareshwar Harnanan, presiding over the matter, ruled that the vessel’s operators had
breached their duty of care by failing to take adequate precautions to avoid damaging the
underwater infrastructure.

Judge Nareshwar Harnanan

The court dismissed the defence’s [Vlistdiep] claim that the ship was under the control of a Maritime
Administration Department (MARAD) pilot at the time of the incident.

Justice Harnanan also noted that the defendants had not followed through on their intention to file
a third-party claim against MARAD.

Key testimony during the trial came from the GPL’s witness, Troy Clarke, who demonstrated that the
cable was clearly marked according to international standards.

Additional evidence from MARAD officers highlighted the navigational responsibilities of vessels,
especially during strong tidal conditions.

The court concluded that the ship’s negligence directly caused the cable’s severing and the
subsequent financial losses suffered by GPL.

The court directed the owners of Vlistdiep to pay the following amounts: $200,931,139 in special
damages for repairing and replacing the damaged cable; $5,000,000 in general damages for
negligence and $3,000,000 in fixed legal costs.

The court also imposed interest on the judgment amount at a rate of six per cent from the filing date
of the lawsuit to the date of judgment and four per cent thereafter until full payment is made.

All payments are to be completed by February 28, 2025.

GPL was represented by attorneys Devindra Kissoon, Natasha Vieira, and Abhimanyu Dev of London
House Chambers.

The defence for Vlistdiep was handled by lawyers Nigel Hughes, Jed Vasconcellos, and Shawn
Shewram from the law firm Hughes, Fields & Stoby.