Sri Lankan Supreme Court gave verdict on the X-Press Pearl case which has been going on since 2021 and X-Press Feeder group has been asked for the payment of an initial sum of USD 1 billion.
MV X-Press Pearl, a container ship carrying the Singapore flag with 1,486 containers on board (of which 81 were identified as containing toxic, hazardous and dangerous chemicals), having arrived into the territorial waters of Sri Lanka, caught fire on 20th May 2021 due to obvious causes which arose within the vessel (more-fully described in this Judgment). It was ablaze by the 25th May, and finally sank on 2nd June 2021 within Sri Lanka’s territorial waters, 9.5 Nautical miles away from the Port of Colombo, near Pamunugama close to Negombo, in the Western seas of Sri Lanka.
In the Judgment document which is having 361 pages giving various details of the incident, communications, actions by different parties and reference to multiple case laws. Court has taken view that “Polluter to Pay” principle on their judgement.
Below quoted from the judgement document
“Therefore, this Court has sufficient reasons to hold that the Non-State Respondents (X-Press Pearl group) should be held accountable and liable under the Polluter Pays Principle for the pollution caused by the MV XPress Pearl vessel. Thereby, the standard of liability herein is absolute, is founded upon the circumstances that prevailed and is non-negotiable. “
“Accordingly, this Court holds that the Owner, Operators and the local Agent of MV X-Press Pearl (who are Respondents to the several Applications and is referred to in this Judgment as being the ‘X-Press Pearl group’) are jointly and severally liable for the payment of compensation.”
“On a detailed consideration of the pollution caused and the several claims presented by the Petitioners, it is the view of this Court that the first requirement to be imposed on the Non-State party Respondents (MV X-Press Pearl group of companies who have been cited as Respondents to the several Applications) is for the payment of an initial sum of USD 1 billion (approximately Rs. 297,980,000,000.00, as per the exchange rate of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka prevalent on 22nd July 2025 which is Rs. 297.98 per 1 United States Dollar). This Court has arrived at this figure on a detailed consideration of the multitude of factors contained in the several Reports presented to this Court regarding the harm caused to the marine and coastal environment, and the significant losses suffered by persons who were dependent on fishing and the fishing industry and by other indirect victims.”
The X-Press Pearl group who were cited as Respondents to the several Applications shall make an initial payment of USD 1 billion in up to four (4) instalments within a period of one (1) year from the date of this Judgment. The first of such instalments shall be paid within a period not exceeding two months from the date of this Judgment and shall not be less than USD 250 million. A further minimum of USD 500 million should be paid (in either one or two instalments) within a period of not exceeding 6 months from the date of this Judgment. The remaining USD 250 million (from the initial payment) shall be paid during the remaining period, and before the expiry of one year from the date of this Judgment.
Full Judgement
