The Kerala High Court has ordered the conditional arrest of the Liberian-flagged ship MV MSC Palermo to secure claims related to losses suffered after its sister ship, MSC Elsa 3, sank off the coast of Kochi on May 25, 2025.
MV MSC Palermo is presently anchored at the Vizhinjam port in Thiruvananthapuram.
The petitioners said that their fishing vessels suffered from damage due to the debris of MSC Elsa 3.
The court ordered the arrest of MV MSC Palermo till the security of Rs. 2.6 crore is deposited.
MSC Elsa 3 was sailing from Vizhinjam to Kochi, loaded with 640 containers, including 13 hazardous cargo and 12 calcium carbide containers, when it sank due to flooding in one of the holds, per the Indian Coast Guard.
The High Court gave a similar order in July for detaining the MV MSC Akiteta II.
On June 18, 2025, the court ordered MV MSC Polo II to be detained in a suit filed by Sans Cashew India Private Limited, which claimed that its consignment worth Rs 74 lakh was lost due to sinking.
This order came 4 days after the court ordered another vessel, MSC Manasa F, to be detained. This vessel is also operated by the Mediterranean Shipping Company, after petitions from 5 other cargo owners who lost shipments in the incident.
The order almost secured Rs 6 crore as a conditional deposit for the ship’s release. On May 29, 2025, the Kerala government declared the wreckage of MSC ELSA 3 a state-specific disaster.
Tinku Biswal, principal secretary of the State Disaster Management Department, stated that the shipwreck poses a threat to Kerala’s coastline, environmentally, socially and also economically.
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