Sri Lanka‘s highest court has delivered a landmark verdict in what is being considered the island’s worst maritime disaster: The Supreme Court ruled that Singaporean shipping firm Express Feeders had to compensate with US$1 billion after the MV X-Press Pearl, which was transporting a load of chemicals and microplastics, sank near Colombo in June 2021, leaving behind a toxic combination of chemicals and microplastics along 80 kilometres of pristine coastline. This record-breaking one-year payment ruling is a landmark for environmental justice in the region.
The 361-page ruling quoted the “polluter pays” principle and held charterers, owners, and local agents liable. Express Feeders had initially committed just US $7.85 million for cleanup and compensation for resettled fishermen before it obtained a London admiralty court order in July 2023 limiting liability to £19 million (around US $25 million), which Sri Lankan authorities have fought hard on appeal. Simultaneously, Singapore’s International Commercial Court has put a comparable case on hold, awaiting the outcome in London.
The MV X-Press Pearl was no dilapidated old freighter but a fresh Super Eco 2700-class container vessel, commissioned in February 2021 and barely four months into service when disaster befell it. Anchored off the coast of Colombo Port after Qatari and Indian ports turned it away due to its leaking cargo, the vessel contained 81 containers of “dangerous goods” including nitric acid, lead ingots, caustic soda, and about 1,680 metric tons of plastic nurdles, small preproduction beads used for the production of plastics.
On May 20, 2021, the nitric acid leak caused a fire that smouldered for almost two weeks, burning at temperatures of at least 1,500°C. Despite heroic work by Sri Lanka’s Navy, Air Force, and international rescue teams, the blaze was not extinguished, and the ship sank on June 2, its poisonous cargo spilling into the Indian Ocean.
The cost to the environment was huge. Tons of tiny microplastic grains piled up on Negombo to Kalutara beaches, coating beaches and sea creatures. Fishing communities, which had lived off the ocean’s richness for years, were closed down for months due to officials prohibiting fishing to prevent the sale of contaminated catch. An AP News investigation continued to chronicle the killing of 417 sea turtles, 48 dolphins, and 8 whales, along with wholesale devastation of schools of fish and phytoplankton blooms—crucial building blocks of the oceanic food chain.
In addition to the environmental devastation, the disaster brought focus to the interconnected vulnerabilities of supply chains and coastal economies worldwide. Sri Lanka’s tourism sector, already under pandemic-induced downturns, took further blows as dirty beaches made international news. Local businesspeople who had expanded into beach-cleanup tourism experienced tourist visits cut in half, while small-scale fishermen, most of whom had no other savings to rely on, overnight lost their livelihoods.
But the tragedy has unleashed a fresh sense of urgency for sea guarding. Green NGO communities have renewed demands following the verdict for more international regulation over the handling of cargo, more stringent inspection in port areas, and real-time tracking of dangerous cargo. Sri Lanka’s Marine Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) is already working with regional allies to implement an early warning system against chemical spills, drawing lessons from the X-Press Pearl debacle.
However, the situation is precarious for Express Feeders. If the $1 billion judgement stands, the company will be in the red, and its insurers may have to pay. The ruling also has a persuasive precedent: even the most advanced shipowners can be forced to shell out when profit margins take precedence over safety measures.
While Sri Lanka continues to heal, the scars from June 2021 continue to linger on the shores and beaches of the west. However, the Supreme Court’s judgement ushers in a new era of accountability, where the guardians of the seas will not be silenced and the polluters will bear the consequences of their transgressions. As one of the local organizers described, “This decision isn’t just about damages; it’s about ensuring that no community ever pays this price alone.”
