• July 11, 2025
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  • The Kerala High Court ordered the arrest of the Mediterranean Shipping Company’s Akiteta II, a sister ship of the MSC Elsa III which capsized off the coast of Kerala on May 25.
  • It also ordered the ship to deposit ₹9,531 crores in compensation with the court. The ship will remain under arrest till the next hearing.
  • So far, 106.8 metric tons of plastic nurdles (pellets) have been recovered from the shoreline, and the families of 78,498 fishermen have been compensated.

The Kerala High Court ordered the arrest of the Mediterranean Shipping Company’s Akiteta II, a sister ship of the MSC Elsa III which capsized off the coast of Kerala on May 25, causing widespread damages. The ship will remain under arrest until the next hearing, or till compensation for the spill is paid to the court.

The MSC Elsa III was carrying 643 containers when it capsized, spilling plastic pellets, oil, and calcium carbide, among other materials, into the ocean. The Coast Guard was able to contain the spillage and safely rescue all 24 crew members on board. The damages resulting from the spill, however, are “incalculable and continuing,” the Kerala government said in an admiral suit it filed against the shipping company, based on which the court pronounced its interim order.

According to the Kerala government, the spill has caused damages in pollution worth ₹8,626 crore. “The fish market has suffered a severe crash due to contamination fears. Furthermore, six cetacean carcasses, including dolphins and a whale, have been found ashore, suspected to have died due to exposure to microplastics and toxic substances released from the vessel,” the petition, obtained by Mongabay India, says.

The aftermath of the sinking of ELSA-3 near the coast of Kerala: plastic pellets called nurdles along with other materials polluted the state's beaches. Image by John Bennet.
The aftermath of the sinking of ELSA III near the coast of Kerala: plastic pellets called nurdles along with other materials polluted the state’s beaches. So far, 106.8 metric tons of nurdles have been recovered from the shoreline. Image by John Bennet.

Compensation order of over 9,000 crores

In addition to the environmental damages, the state has demanded an additional ₹378 crores be paid towards environmental restoration and ₹526 crores as compensation for the fisherfolk.

The court has now ordered the ship to deposit ₹9,531 crores in compensation. In response, representatives of MSC Akiteta II have sought time to file a counter, arguing that the Kerala government’s claims are “highly exaggerated.“

The court directed Adani Vizhinjam Port, where the MSC Akiteta II is stationed, to carry out the arrest. The ship will remain under arrest till at least the next hearing, scheduled on August 6.

The arrest of the MSC Akiteta II marks the third such arrest of ships from the Mediterranean Shipping Company since the accident. The Kerala High Court had previously ordered the arrest of two other ships – the MSC Manasa-F and MSC Polo II – based on separate cases filed by private parties.

The Kerala government, in its suit, sought the arrest of sister ship Akiteta II “to secure claims” arising from the sunken MSC Elsa III. Both ships, the suit argued, are “under the common commercial, financial, and technical control of the Mediterranean Shipping Company, which is the true de-facto owner despite the nominal registration of vessels under separate companies.”

The state government went on to name nine other sister ships in its suit, alleging they were all registered in the name of separate entities but bearing the same address and under common operational control, “highlighting a pattern of deliberate corporate structuring to defeat potential claims. It is contended that this structure is a fraudulent device to frustrate maritime claim enforcement,” the suit says.

According to news reports, MSC had claimed that no significant environmental damages resulted from the spill.

Fishermen in Kerala. The families of 78,498 fishermen have been compensated with ₹1000 and six kilograms of free rice by the state government. Representative image by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
Fishermen in Kerala. The families of 78,498 fishermen have been compensated with ₹1,000 and six kilograms of free rice by the state government. Representative image by Vyacheslav Argenberg via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).

Recovery and clean up

The Kerala government’s admiral suit followed a public interest litigation filed by T.N. Prathapan, chairman of the Kerala Fishermen’s Coordination Committee and a former Member of Parliament from Thrissur. Prathapan urged the state and union governments to undertake recovery and enforcement measures under international maritime law.

The public interest litigation also pointed out that the Kerala State Pollution Control Board had failed to devise an oil spill contingency plan of its own, leaving coastal communities and the environment vulnerable. Despite outsourcing the task in 2016, the plan never materalised, the case argued. The ban on fishing up to 20 nautical miles due to the spill “effectively barred thousands of fishermen from their primary source of income, causing widespread livelihood loss in Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Thiruvananthapuram, and Kollam districts,” the public interest litigation said.

So far, families of 78,498 fishermen have been compensated with ₹1000 and six kilograms of free rice by the state government.

According to the Directorate General of Shipping, no oil sheen was visible at the site of the spill as of June 30, after the ship’s fuel oil tanks were capped and plugged. However, 106.8 metric tons of plastic nurdles (pellets) have been recovered from the shoreline. Around 456 volunteers in Trivandrum alone are monitoring the coast and helping with clean up activities, the Directorate General of Shipping told the court.

“Overall, response efforts are stabilised, though the focus must remain on finalising container recovery, enhancing environmental monitoring, accelerating nurdle disposal, and preparing for the next operational phase” of salvaging the ship, the DG of Shipping said. Salvaging efforts will reportedly begin in August, when weather conditions become favourable.

Meanwhile, the preliminary water sampling at the site of the wreck has been conducted by the Kerala Pollution Control Board, but the results are awaited.


Read more: Shipwreck spills oil, plastic and legal loopholes


 

Banner image: A cargo ship at the International Container Transshipment Terminal in Kochi. Representative image by ArulkumarRajamani via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).





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