Twin shipwrecks off Kerala: Crisis of ageing vessels & maritime sustainability

The Arabian Sea’s role as a vital trade route was starkly disrupted recently when two aging container ships capsized off Kerala’s coast, triggering a crisis that entwines environmental damage, human hardship and international legal gaps.

The MSC Elsa 3, a Liberian-flagged vessel aged 28, and the Wan Hai 503, a 20-year-old ship under the Singapore flag, capsized nearly simultaneously off the coast of Kerala, leading to an environmental and humanitarian emergency.

More than a maritime mishap, the twin disasters spotlight structural failures in international oversight, gaps in liability regimes and the mounting costs paid by coastal communities and marine ecosystems.

The vessels leaked diesel, furnace oil and hazardous cargo into marine waters. A flood of plastic nurdles, which are lentil-sized pellets used in manufacturing, were reported washing ashore by volunteers and marine biologists. These are easily mistaken for fish eggs by marine animals. Nurdles are nearly impossible to clean up and act as vectors for persistent organic pollutants.

Worse, scientists warned that sunken oil droplets would likely settle onto the seabed, suffocating coral nurseries and benthic organisms vital to the food chain.

Further, the local fishing communities preparing for monsoon closures and trawling ban, painted a grim picture: Nets were shredded or tangled with metal debris and plastic; boats returned to shore slicked with oil; and a 20-nautical-mile exclusion zone brought livelihoods to an abrupt halt. What should have been a period of seasonal monsoon preparations instead became a crisis of survival.

Academic studies increasingly suggest that vessel age is a significant predictor of maritime disaster. Structural fatigue in vessels over 20 years old doubles the risk of hull breaches during turbulent sea conditions. Corrosion, metal fatigue and wear-and-tear of load-bearing compartments amplify vulnerabilities.

What might begin as a minor stress crack can become a catastrophic rupture if maintenance and inspections are delayed or insufficient. Routine human errors such as mis-stowage of cargo, poor weather routing and delayed ballast tank maintenance often compound the structural fragility of older vessels.

In both these recent incidents, industry insiders suspect cargo mismanagement and inadequate hull reinforcement. This is not an anomaly but a trend, especially within the opaque framework of 'Flags of Convenience' (FOC) that lets a merchant vessel be registered in a country other than its place of origin.

The MSC Elsa 3 was flying the flag of Liberia, a country with one of the world’s largest ship registries. In fact, Liberia, along with Panama and the Marshall Islands, dominates FOC.

Data from UNCTAD for 2024 highlighted the continued dominance of Flags of Convenience in global shipping. Liberia, Panama and the Marshall Islands lead the registries in terms of both the number of ships and the total deadweight tonnage (dwt). These three alone account for nearly 47 per cent of the world’s deadweight tonnage, a strong indication of how the international maritime system favours regulatory havens.

Despite having fewer vessels than Panama, Liberia surpassed it in total deadweight tonnage, underscoring the trend of registering larger, higher-capacity ships under its flag. The average vessel size under Liberia (78,307 dwt) is nearly 73 per cent larger than that under Panama (45,554 dwt). This suggests that Liberia is increasingly attractive for operators of massive cargo vessels possibly due to lax safety, labour, and environmental standards.

Liberia also showed the highest year-on-year growth in dwt (7.9 per cent), indicating a rapid expansion in its role as a flag state, despite ongoing debates about the environmental and legal consequences of such registrations.

What makes FOC attractive to shipping companies is the minimal regulatory interference. Vessels are often registered without stringent background checks or robust oversight. Flag states outsource inspections, allow for critical maintenance to be deferred and rarely enforce environmental or labour laws.

A recent study showed that ships flying open registries are twice as likely to suffer structural failures due to poor compliance with international safety norms.

The MSC Elsa 3, almost reaching the three-decade mark, should have undergone rigorous hull stress testing under International Maritime Organization (IMO) recommendations. However, Liberia’s lax enforcement and fragmented compliance systems allowed the vessel to operate with minimal scrutiny, ultimately at great cost to the Indian coastline.

While Liberia’s holding the FOC tag, Singapore's credibility is also at stake as the Wan Hai 503’s case is more complex. Singapore, unlike Liberia, has built a reputation as a global leader in green maritime policies, including investment in low-emission fuels, digital ship registries and port decarbonisation. Yet, despite this forward-looking agenda, Singapore’s role as a flag state places it under equal legal and moral scrutiny in this incident.

As per the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and the MARPOL convention on marine pollution, Singapore is obligated to ensure that its flagged vessels comply with international safety and environmental norms.

In the aftermath of the Wan Hai 503’s crisis, it must now demonstrate that sustainability claims extend beyond its domestic waters and accountability travels with the flag. This includes transparent cooperation with Indian authorities, offering financial reparations, deploying clean-up support and committing to long-term ecological restoration.

Any less effort will risk damaging its international standing as a maritime hub with sustainability credentials. Singapore's involvement would convey a strong message to the international shipping community that commitments to sustainability must be accompanied by concrete measures during crises; it would lay the groundwork for more robust and enforceable regulations that protect both individuals and the environment.

India’s response: Time to assert leadership

India, which has over 7,500 kilometres of coastline and a growing stake in global shipping and marine biodiversity, should use this moment to lead. The crisis demands more than reactive clean-up; it calls for proactive diplomacy, legal reform and environmental stewardship rooted in India’s commitments under the Paris Climate Agreement.

As a major signatory to the Paris Agreement, India has pledged to reduce emissions intensity and safeguard ecosystems vulnerable to climate change. The marine environment, however, remains underregulated in this context. The unchecked expansion of FOCs and the use of aging, high-emission vessels registered under lax jurisdictions directly undermine these climate goals. By championing stronger international norms on maritime emissions, ship age limits, and environmental accountability, India can bridge the gap between climate diplomacy and ocean governance.

India’s Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change must not let this moment slip into bureaucratic inertia. Together, they should activate bilateral and multilateral frameworks under UNCLOS, along with the IMO’s Container Safety Guidelines, to demand robust negotiations from Liberia and Singapore.

Such negotiations should not be limited to compensation alone. They must include habitat restoration protocols, scientific monitoring of affected marine zones and enforceable Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) that improve future maritime governance.

By intiating these talks, India can establish a powerful precedent: That environmental justice and trade efficiency are not mutually exclusive and that developing (coastal) nations have the right to demand accountability.

Reforms needed

The MSC Elsa 3 and Wan Hai 503 disasters are symptomatic of broader structural issues in global maritime trade. IMO regulations remain largely non-binding and enforcement varies significantly across flag states.

Many insurance regimes still treat container spills and oil leaks as minor liabilities, failing to account for long-term ecological costs or socio-economic damages to artisanal fishers.

Moreover, the increasing use of container ships for mixed and sometimes undocumented hazardous cargo remains under-regulated. The lack of real-time tracking of dangerous goods, including chemicals and plastic feedstock, poses severe risks to coastal regions and marine biodiversity hotspots like India’s southwestern coast.

Experts advocate for compulsory stress-testing of hulls beyond 20 years, digitised cargo documentation systems and expanded pollution liability frameworks that include container vessels. While tankers are typically subject to stringent pollution penalties, container ships often evade equivalent scrutiny despite posing similar risks.

Reform need not come at the cost of trade efficiency. In fact, bodies like the World Trade Organization (WTO) and UNCTAD are actively promoting the concept of “green shipping corridors”. These initiatives incentivise cleaner fuels, newer vessels and lower-emission logistics chains.

According to recent UNCTAD policy briefs, offering tax benefits or preferential berthing slots for greener ships could catalyse a transformation in global fleet behaviour.

India should leverage its growing maritime clout to champion these initiatives, especially within regional blocs like the Indian Ocean Rim Association. With 12 major ports and Vizhinjam poised to become major transhipment hub for the region, the country is well-placed to demand greener commitments from vessels using its maritime channels.

In addition to international reparations, the Indian government must establish a permanent Marine Disaster Relief Fund to support coastal communities affected by such events. This should be accompanied by robust training programs in spill response, compensation claim processing, and alternative livelihood options during crisis periods.

Nitin Ram is a PhD student with the University of Hyderabad, specialising in sustainability management. Views expressed are the author’s own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth.