Singapore shipowner slams US$1 billion damages award after Sri Lanka marine disaster
The Singapore-registered container ship MV X-Press Pearl partially sinks after burning for almost two weeks, just outside Colombo's harbour on Jun 4, 2021. (Photo: AFP/LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI)
COLOMBO: Owners of a Singapore-registered vessel urged Colombo on Friday (Aug 15) to consider more "rational" compensation after they were ordered to pay US$1 billion in damages for causing Sri Lanka's worst case of environmental pollution.
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court ordered X-Press Feeders in July to pay the damages within a year for causing marine pollution when its vessel caught fire in 2021.
The Supreme Court also ordered criminal charges against the skipper and local agents of the MV X-Press Pearl, which sank off Colombo Port after the fire.
"From the very start, X-Press Feeders has expressed deep regret to the people of Sri Lanka for the impact ... and remained committed to fully assist ... in all clean-up operations," the owners said in a statement.
They recognised the need for compensation but said "it must be done in an equitable and fair manner that identifies the failings in the response and clean-up operations of the Sri Lankan government".
The vessel was carrying 81 containers of "dangerous cargo" that included acids, lead ingots and plastic raw materials.
Tons of microplastic granules from the ship inundated an 80km stretch of beach along Sri Lanka's western coast. Fishing was prohibited for months.
X-Press Feeders said it had already spent US$150 million to remove the wreck, clean the beaches, and compensate affected fishermen.
It said the damages awarded established an "unprecedented level of risk" that it and other shipping companies would struggle to meet, and called for more "rational decision-making".
Sri Lankan authorities believe the fire was caused by a nitric acid leak.
Ports in Qatar and India had refused to offload the leaking nitric acid before the vessel arrived in Sri Lankan waters.
Environmentalists who filed the case alleged that both the government and the vessel's owners had failed to prevent the fire from becoming an unprecedented ecological disaster.
The Sri Lankan government has also filed a lawsuit against the ship's owners in the Singapore International Commercial Court, claiming unspecified damages.
