MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company has failed in its legal bid in the UK to limit its $200m liability to a shipowner following an explosion on the 6,732-teu container ship MSC Flaminia (built 2001) that left three people dead in 2012.
The Swiss liner operator was the time charterer of the MSC Flaminia when it was badly damaged in an explosion and fire in one of its cargo holds mid-Atlantic during a voyage from Charleston, South Carolina, to Antwerp, Belgium.
An arbitration panel in 2021 found the MSC had breached its time charter and said that the company should pay an affiliate of German shipping group Conti $200m for losses arising out of the incident. The blast was blamed on a cargo of divinylbenzene (DVB) chemical known to be a fire risk if not properly stored.
MSC launched a partial appeal against the full award, saying it was not liable for the full clear-up of the ship and its cargo.
It has paid some of the damages but was seeking to limit more than $120m still owed to £28m ($35m).
But the three appeal court judges all found against the company, according to a ruling published on Friday. The court refused MSC’s request to take the case to the highest court — the UK Supreme Court.
MSC declined to comment on the ruling. Lawyers for Conti have been approached for comment.
The ruling is just one arm of a complex and long-running legal dispute that has played out on both sides of the Atlantic.
The affiliate company — Conti 11 Container Schiffahrts — filed a claim against MSC in New Orleans last year where the Geneva-based container giant controls a container terminal.
A judge found in Conti’s favour in December with a judgment for $132m plus interest against MSC. MSC has also appealed against that ruling.
Separately, a court in New York in 2018 found Deltech, the company that produced the DVB, was 55% liable for the explosion while Stolt Tank Containers, a subsidiary of the Norwegian shipping group Stolt-Nielsen that moved the cargo, shouldered the remainder of the responsibility.
After losing an appeal, Stolt-Nielsen said this year that it would make a provision of $155m in its second-quarter results for 2023.
The MSC Flaminia, which underwent costly repairs following the July 2012 explosion and resulting fire, is now named the CMA CGM San Francisco and is operated by France’s CMA CGM.
Read more
- Stolt-Nielsen goes outside the family with new CEO pick
- Tanker IPO may be delayed but don’t doubt Stolt-Nielsen’s earning power, Clarksons says
- Niels Stolt-Nielsen tackles ‘horrible’ Flaminia fall-out amid tanker IPO questions
- US courtroom defeat torpedoes what would have been a record quarter for Stolt-Nielsen
- ‘Disappointed’ Stolt-Nielsen sets aside $155m after losing appeal over MSC Flaminia fire
- MSC opens new appeals court battle 10 years after Flaminia explosion
