Debt, Despair, and a Sunken Ship: How MSC Elsa 3 Broke Kerala’s Coastal Backbone

On 24 May, MSC Elsa 3 capsized miles off the coast of Kochi, marking one of Kerala’s worst maritime disasters.

On 24 May, MSC Elsa 3 en route from Vizhinjam Port to Kochi, carrying 643 containers, capsized 14.6 nautical miles from the coast.

(Photo: PTI/altered by The Quint)

Five months on, fishermen in Kerala who suffered damages by debris from the capsized Else 3 cargo ship remain uncompensated. A deep dive into Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) shows that the world’s largest container shipping company has a history of accidents and was once fined for illegally dumping bilge waste into the Atlantic Ocean. Help us bring more environmental injustices to light. Become a member.

For 44-year-old artisanal fisherman Denson Joseph from Pulluvila in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district, the months between June and October are the most profitable. During this period, the Arabian Sea yields large shoals of sardines that fetch him a good income.

But, on 24 May, right before the season commenced this year, MSC Elsa 3 en route from Vizhinjam Port to Kochi, carrying 643 containers, capsized 14.6 nautical miles from the coast.

The shipwreck marked one of Kerala’s largest maritime disasters as the containers carrying hazardous cargo such as calcium carbide and tonnes of furnace oil leaked into the waters. It was also the first time that India’s shores witnessed plastic pellet pollution of such a large magnitude. 

Artisanal fisherman Denson Joseph from Pulluvila in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district.

(Photo: Sourced by The Quint)

The floating fragments from the containers shredded the nets of fishermen like Joseph across the coastal districts of Alappuzha, Kollam, and Thiruvananthapuram, leaving them with an unexpected expense.

The shipwreck hit the fishermen in three ways.

The sharp objects from the sunken vessel shredded their nets and clogged their engines.

Then came the mandatory warning issued by the coast guard and Kerala fisheries department—they were asked to stay off 20 nautical miles from the shipwreck for weeks after the accident. And when they resumed fishing, consumers, spooked by images of floating containers and rumours of chemical leaks, refused to buy the catch. 

In Kerala, the fishing season gains momentum from June, after the end of the south west monsoon, says Professor Biju Kumar, a marine biologist and head of the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries at Kerala University.

“The wreck has impacted traditional and motorised fishermen as they were asked to avoid fishing for days after the disaster.”

Professor Biju Kumar

The total loss for Joseph’s family amounts to at least Rs 1.5 lakh. The family has already borrowed Rs 50,000 to meet their daily expenses.

“My fishing net worth Rs 35,000 was damaged, and the engine of my best boat broke into pieces. I stayed off work for more than a month. There was no income,” Joseph told The Quint soon after he woke up from a nap that would help him stay awake that night for fishing.

His wife, K Selvi, 42, had just come home from a bank to check on the loan for their daughter who wishes to pursue nursing in a college in Bengaluru. 

Denson Joseph's boat that helps him earn his livelihood. 

(Photo: Sourced by The Quint)

Joseph’s family is not isolated in the accident. According to Wrecked Futures, a recently released report from Pulluvila by Greenpeace India, a non-profit environmental organisation, the average income loss per family per day ranges from Rs 800 to Rs 1,000, considering fishing disruption from 24 May to 24 June.

The report mentioned that “95.5 percent of families recorded a reduction in income, averaging Rs 29,000 over the month." As many as "96 percent of families rely on fishing, with an average of 1.6 breadwinners per family, often directly dependent on fishing activities.” 

Disrupting The Marine Ecosystem

Fish along the Kerala coast broadly fall into two categories—pelagic and schooling species that live near the surface, such as Indian oil sardines, anchovies, and mackerel; and demersal or reef-associated species that live on the seabed, including goatfish, groupers, and prawns.

“Following the chemical spill, there have been no reports of direct or mass mortality, but the impact is likely more severe on bottom-dwelling organisms, and that’s why we need long-term toxicity studies to assess the extent of damage.”

Professor Biju Kumar

Fishermen in the waters, however, notice a bad catch and even though there are no studies to link it to the shipwreck, they say, it cannot be a coincidence.

“August has been especially bad this year. Fish such as sardines tend to move away after a disaster like this, and the real impact will show only in the next season. With the ecosystem disturbed, fish production is bound to fall,” says Jackson Pollayil, 50, from Arthunkal village in Alappuzha, who's the state president of the Kerala Swathanthra Matsya Thozhilali Federation, a trade union representing small-scale, artisanal fishers in Kerala.

The Greenpeace report mentions that the presence of plastic nurdles from the shipping container changed the ecosystem, to which the fish colonies are highly sensitive. “This year’s catch has been pathetic—most fishermen are bringing in only small varieties like Netholi,” Joseph says. 

“Each boat carries fishing nets worth at least Rs 10 lakh, and when the nets get stuck in the containers, they are torn beyond repair.”

Jackson Pollayil

The MSC Elsa 3 disaster marks one of Kerala’s largest maritime disasters because the container carried hazardous cargo such as calcium carbide and tonnes of furnace oil.

(Photo: PTI)-

‘Why Are We Not Compensated Yet?’

A week after MSC Elsa 3 disaster caused the spillage of diesel, furnace oil, and cargo debris, the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority set up a multi-tiered mechanism to assess and mitigate the consequences, though official data on losses has not yet been released. But the estimates from Greenpeace paint a grim picture about a single village, Pulluvila, echoing the same for other villages.

In Pulluvila, "the total collective loss has been estimated at around Rs 54 lakh. Imagine the scale of loss across the state due to the disaster,” says Amruta SN, Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace India.

Almost five months after the accident, victims have still not received financial compensation—a delay that is forcing families like Joseph’s to dip into their savings and take new loans at high interest rates.

“Why are we not compensated yet? The money would have been useful to repair my nets, and I would have cut down on the losses,” Joseph says. 

On the ground, gaps in disaster response are glaring: fishermen’s associations are largely excluded from decisions on compensation, no efforts are being made to undertake rapid environmental baseline assessments, and long-term impact monitoring. 

“Impacted communities should have received immediate, direct relief within days to weeks in ways such as emergency cash transfers, free replacement or repair of nets or gear, followed by a transparent, community-driven claims process for longer-term and other accidental losses and damages,” Amruta says. 

On 25 September, the Kerala High Court directed the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) to deposit a security amount of Rs 1,227.62 crore to compensate for the environmental damage and economic losses suffered by the local fishing community. As per official records, MSC is yet to respond.

What’s Happening On The Legal Front? 

India is a signatory to international conventions, including the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, 1973; the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (LLMC); and the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage, 1969. These conventions are incorporated into the municipal law in India.

MSC is using the provisions of the LLMC convention incorporated in the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. In the suit filed by them, they are invoking and seeking to apply the caps under Section 352 of the Act and limit their liability to $14 million (approx Rs 124 crore) calculated based on the tonnage of the vessel.

Other international conventions such as Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001 and the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 1996 (and its 2010 protocol) are yet to be ratified and brought within the purview of the municipal or the national law in India.

Victims cannot invoke these treaties in Indian courts to claim specific compensations for bunker oil or hazardous cargo spills. 

"It is like we are using umbrella provisions when there are already specific ones that deal with such issues, but we cannot invoke them in the absence of ratification of these conventions. It just dilutes the arsenal to hold offending and polluting entities accountable for the full extent of losses and pollution caused to various stakeholders.”

Rishi Murarka, Counsel at Chambers of George Rebello

Rescue teams helping people on board the capsized MSC Elsa 3, which was en route from Vizhinjam Port to Kochi.

(Photo: PTI)

“A truck swerving at high speed, causing a pile-up and loss to property and life; a tanker truck leaking oil and causing a major explosion or a fuel leak making the road slippery. Imagine using a single law to cover all these scenarios,” Murarka, who's also an expert on maritime disasters, explains. 

However, just ratifying an international convention or incorporating an international convention into a domestic law is not enough.

“As India looks to become a global maritime hub, and invests in infrastructure to expand its ports and establish new major ports such as Vizhinjam Port in Kerala and Vadhavan port, the chances of accidents are likely to increase as more deep draft vessels with a higher cargo carrying capacity call at Indian ports. The increase in traffic can also lead to an increase in incidents. Thus, good oversight and strong enforcement and compliance with the rules and regulations with respect to navigation as well as maintenance is a must,” Murarka says. 

A Trial Of Disasters

With 900 vessels, 300 routes, 520 ports of call and business with 155 countries, MSC, the family-owned independent company, has a market share of 19.8 percent in 2024—the highest-ever recorded by a carrier. 

Founded by Gianluigi Aponte in 1970, MSC expanded through a simple, but sharp strategy of acquiring second-hand ships through which they added services in Northern Europe, Africa, and the Indian Ocean. By the end of the 1980s, MSC included routes to North America and Australia. “The rise of MSC to near global status was achieved in the short period of 13 years only,” wrote Swiss Ships, a publication that chronicles maritime history. 

“The fleet has been largely built up by an astute strategy of second-hand purchases, the bargaining prices enabling MSC to operate profitably at rate levels which its establishment rivals would once never have envisaged.”

Swiss Ships

This isn’t the first time MSC has been at the centre of maritime disasters or left environmental destruction in its wake. The MSC Antonia, built in 2009 and registered in Liberia, made headlines in August 2024 after losing 46 containers, containing plastics and coast-polluting industrial goods, in rough seas off South Africa. 

In a separate incident this year, the same vessel, a 7,000 TEU container ship, ran aground in the Red Sea near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on 10 May, reportedly due to GPS jamming.

MSC is also notorious for violating environmental laws. In 2006, the US Department of Justice penalised MSC ship management with $10.5 million for illegally discharging oil-contaminated bilge waste at the Atlantic Ocean from the vessel MSC Elena.

MSC Elena, which made regular voyages from Europe to ports in the US, including Boston, discharged approximately 40 tonnes of sludge during a five-month period in 2004 through a three-piece bypass pipe manufactured on the ship.

“This is the largest fine involving a single vessel charged with deliberate pollution and the largest criminal fine paid by a defendant in an environmental case in Massachusetts history,” said the Department of Justice. 

On 3 March 2024, the MSC São Paulo V, a 1998-built container ship registered in Liberia, suffered an engine room fire while navigating near Les Escoumins, Quebec. In late February 2024, the MSC Katyayni, a 1996-built container ship, experienced engine failure approximately 300 nautical miles off the coast of Vigo, Spain. 

The Quint has contacted MSC for a response regarding the cause of the shipwreck off Kerala and concerns about the age of their vessels. The story will be updated as and when they respond.

(Laasya Shekhar is an independent journalist from Chennai with 10 years of experience in print and digital media, predominantly covering environmental, energy, and women's issues. Written with inputs from Veena Maruthoor.)