X-Press Feeders rejects US$1 billion Sri Lankan pollution damages

SINGAPORE: X-Press Feeders stated it will refuse to pay Sri Lankan court-ordered damages of US$1 billion for causing that country’s worst case of environmental pollution.

In an exclusive interview to AFP, X-Press Feeders Chief Executive Shmuel Yoskovitz said he believed paying would have wide-ranging implications on global shipping and “set a dangerous precedent”.

The company operated the MV X-Press Pearl that sank off Colombo Port in June 2021 after a fire – believed caused by a nitric acid leak – that raged for nearly two weeks.

Its cargo included 81 containers of hazardous goods, including acids and lead ingots, and hundreds of tonnes of plastic pellets.

The ship was refused permission by ports in Qatar and India to offload the leaking nitric acid before it arrived in Sri Lankan waters.

Tonnes of microplastic granules from the ship inundated an 80km stretch of beach along Sri Lanka’s western coast. Fishing was prohibited for months.

Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court in July ordered the company to pay Colombo an “initial” US$1 billion in damages within a year, with the first tranche of US$250 million to be paid by Tuesday.

It also ordered the company “to make such other and further payments” in the future as the court may direct.