The plaintiffs sought to claim damages against Cargo Container Line Ltd for loss of goods arising from the sinking of the carrier MOL Comfort. Even though ‘Cargo Container Line Ltd’ was named on the bill of lading, there was no address or information as to its whereabouts. Article 3.6 of the Hague-Visby Rules provided for a one-year limitation period. On the last day before this limitation period expired, the plaintiffs issued a writ, not against the defendant, but mistakenly against a Maltese company of the same name. The defendant carrier was actually incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). The plaintiffs issued a concurrent amended writ to substitute the Malta address with the BVI address. The defendant sought to have the amended writ set aside and the action dismissed as time-barred.

Held: The defendant's application was refused.

There are two types of amendment to correct the name of a party. The amendment may effectively substitute one party for another in the action or it may merely clarify by (for instance) correction of spelling, initials, title or corporate status the name that the plaintiff had intended to plead from the outset. Here the amendment was in the latter category - the defendant was correctly identified in the pleadings and the company's address was merely being corrected.

[For the unsuccessful appeal to the Hong Kong Court of Appeal, see Benchmark Electronics (Thailand) PCL v Cargo Container Ltd [2019] HKCA 1101 (CMI731).]