On 2 May 2010, a passenger on board a cruise ship was injured by a fall due, in her view, to an abrupt movement of the ship during a mooring manoeuvre in Marseille. Therefore, the passenger sued MSC Cruises for compensation for the damage suffered as a result of the accident.

MSC appeared in Court and objected to the intervening limitation period pursuant to art 418 of the Italian Code of Navigation, which provides for a limitation period of six months for rights arising from contracts of carriage of persons, running from the passenger's arrival at the destination.

Held: The Tribunal of Patti found that the time-bar rule set out in art 16 of the Athens Convention 1974 (and transposed into EC Regulation 392/2009) prevails over the domestic rule set out in art 418 of the Italian Code of Navigation.

Therefore, the two-year limitation period applied. Considering that the passenger disembarked in May 2010, the passenger's claim of 14 March 2011 interrupted the two-year time bar, so it was not time-barred.