On the 2nd July 2003 Courtenay boarded the OOCL Montreal in Thamesport, London along with other senior executives for the maiden voyage to Le Havre, France. OOCL also invited a number of guests including industry journalists, customers and other dignatories. 

At 964ft long, the OOCL Montreal is one of the world’s largest container ships and the  4,400 teu ship was only delivered from Daewoo Shipbuilding and Engineering Co in Korea in May of 2003, a couple of months earlier. It is entered with the North of England P&I Club.     

Upon reaching Le Havre, Courtenay, as a senior director of the company, co-hosted an on-board reception for OOCL customers and dignitaries the next day on July 3, 2003. As a senior director of the company, he was the last to leave the ship after guests disembarked in Le Havre.

At 3.25pm he said goodbye to the ship’s captain, Roger Llewellyn, and went to enter the lift on bridge level. On the bridge level the lights from the lift are dimmed so as to avoid the glare on to the bridge deck where the ship's control and navigation is carried out. The door was a swing door as is conventional on ships rather than the sliding doors seen on land based lifts.     

He opened the lift door and stepped into the dark void expecting find the lift floor. There was no lift car waiting and he plunged 60 feet down the lift shaft. The lift car was several floors below and he landed on the roof of the lift, which contained several guests from the reception.     

He did not die instantly, in fact he was still semi-conscious in telling of his pain when he was found suffering from massive internal injuries. Rushed to the local Le Havre hospital he underwent two lengthy operations to stem the extensive internal bleeding but they could not save him. Had he survived then he never would have walked again given the shattering of his bones from foot to pelvis.     

Ben, 27,  Tristan, 26, and Hayden Allan, 22, rushed to be at his side in France arriving at the hospital during the second operation to save him. He never regained consciousness after the fall and as his sons stood either side of his body, they were told that he was not going to make it. In shock at his bloated body from the horrific impact of the plunge his sons eventually had to make the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support machine. They never had the chance to say goodbye.

Bizarrely, with OOCL keen to sail the ship to its next reception in Montreal, Canada, the ship was allowed to leave after a 24-hour delay where the lift was 'sealed' until its arrival in Montreal where further investigations were carried out.