Shipping giant MSC turned oceans of the Global South into dumping grounds: Report

Shipping giant MSC turned oceans of the Global South into dumping grounds: Report

Greenpeace South Asia on November 13 released an investigation that could reset global conversations on corporate responsibility at sea. 

The 128-page report, Below Deck: The Truth Beneath What You See (Mediterranean Shipping Company – MSC), draws from a decade of inspection records, detentions, court filings and verified documentation to describe what it calls a global pattern of safety failures and environmental neglect by the world’s largest container shipping company.

The report comes six months after the MSC ELSA 3, a Liberia-flagged vessel owned by MSC, sank off the Kerala coast, spilling oil and nearly 1,400 tonnes of plastic pellets into the Arabian Sea. Greenpeace argues that the disaster was not an aberration but the foreseeable outcome of corporate decisions that prioritise profit and hide liability. Released in Delhi and Geneva, the study links MSC’s rapid rise to global dominance to a system that moves risks southwards while keeping benefits in the north.

A twin empire on uneven seas

Between 2015 and 2025, MSC built what Greenpeace describes as a dual structure. Its modern mega-ships commanded prime global routes, while older vessels were deployed to Asia, Africa and Latin America. The report shows that many of these ageing ships were registered under flags of convenience in Liberia and Panama, jurisdictions with low taxes and minimal inspection requirements. Once these ships moved out of European regulatory waters, their condition deteriorated. Port records from Asia and Africa repeatedly flagged corrosion, fire hazards and faulty navigation systems. The same issues recurred across vessels and years, pointing to systemic neglect rather than bad luck.

By the mid-2010s, Greenpeace says, MSC’s older fleet had virtually slipped beyond close scrutiny. A researcher quoted in the report said the company had “drifted into invisibility” by shifting high-risk ships to the Global South, where regulatory enforcement is weak and consequences are slow.

A trail of accidents

The report reconstructs a troubling record of MSC accidents. The MSC Flaminia exploded in the Atlantic in 2012, killing three crew members. The MSC Daniela burned off Colombo in 2017. The MSC Messina suffered an engine room fire in the Indian Ocean in 2021. Each time, the company promised reforms. But Greenpeace concludes that the structural issues remained unaddressed.

The worst consequences appeared on May 25, 2025, when the MSC ELSA 3 sank off Thottappally. The 33-year-old vessel carried hazardous materials, diesel, furnace oil and a massive consignment of nurdles. It had been detained in Rotterdam in 2010 for 21 safety deficiencies. Multiple warnings later followed on corrosion and fire safety. Greenpeace says the ship should never have been operational.

When it went down, oil slicks spread quickly and nurdles washed ashore from Kollam to Kozhikode. Fishing halted overnight and beaches turned white. “The sea stopped breathing,” said Suresh Kumar, a fisherman from Alappuzha. Nets came up with oily plastic instead of fish. The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority later estimated losses at Rs 9,531 crore.

A legal fight with global implications

In a significant move, the Kerala government sought full compensation from MSC. The company invoked international conventions that cap ship owner liability and offered only Rs 132 crore, less than two per cent of the state’s assessment. The Kerala High Court has since permitted conditional arrest of MSC’s sister ships entering Indian ports to secure compensation.

Kochi-based lawyer N P Joseph, representing affected fishermen, said global maritime law shields ship owners even in cases of large-scale environmental damage. Kerala’s challenge, he said, may push international bodies to reconsider whether these conventions still serve public interest.

Shipbreaking and the double standard

The Greenpeace report widens the lens to examine MSC’s end-of-life ship practices. Despite public claims of adhering to green recycling, the company continues sending vessels to South Asian beaching yards, especially Alang in Gujarat. These yards depend on labour-intensive, hazardous dismantling on tidal sands. In 2023 alone, MSC sold at least 14 ships to Alang. Between 2006 and 2024, the number reached 125. NGO Shipbreaking Platform named MSC the worst corporate dumper of 2023.

Greenpeace argues that MSC’s contradictory behaviour reflects a larger imbalance in global trade. While Europe demands high environmental compliance, the company disposes of older vessels in the Global South where lives and ecosystems are cheaper.

Science maps the damage

As Greenpeace examined the corporate trail, scientists studied the ecological consequences underwater. Between July 25 and August 21, researchers from CSIR–National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) conducted a detailed survey aboard the research vessel Sagar Sampada. Their observations were alarming. A dead marine turtle was found near the wreck. Oil film patches drifted towards the shore. Coastal waters off Kozhikode, Munambam, Kochi, Alappuzha and Colachel showed oxygen depletion linked to the Arabian Sea’s oxygen minimum zone. Blooming gelatinous plankton and glowing Noctiluca indicated severe ecological stress.

R Manoharan of NIO warned that the marine food web was showing early signs of collapse. If oxygen levels remain low, he said, the ecosystem may take decades to recover. The Kerala government has allocated Rs 10 crore for a long-term scientific assessment, expected in mid-2026.

In its interim report to the National Green Tribunal, the Kerala State Pollution Control Board said the disaster violated the Biological Diversity Act, the Water Act and the Environment Protection Act. The NGT’s Principal Bench took suo motu note of the sinking and described it as a grave ecological accident requiring transnational accountability.

A framework that fails the coast

The report situates the Kerala disaster within a global accountability vacuum. Current liability frameworks allow ship owners to limit compensation even when their negligence destroys coastlines. “Trade moves freely,” the report says, “but responsibility stops at the border.”

Marine ecologists warn that nurdles, which absorb toxins, will persist for decades. Meera Pillai of Cochin University said the pellets already pose risks to biodiversity, fisheries and tourism.

Voices from the shore

Fishing communities remain devastated. In Mararikulam and Purakkad, fishermen speak of waters that no longer yield fish. “Earlier we fought trawlers,” said Kunjumon Thomas. “Now there is no fish left to fight for.” Boats remain idle and families fall deeper into debt. Children play among nurdles that crumble into powder. “The sea has changed colour,” said Mini Paul of Alappuzha. “It is grey now, like grief.”

Even as the Greenpeace findings circulated, the sea revealed another trace. On November 11, a container believed to be from the MSC ELSA 3 was found near Kovalam. Divers from Friends of Marine Life and a Kochi dive team located it wedged among underwater rocks. The ship sank with 640 containers, including hazardous cargo and large quantities of diesel and furnace oil. The newly found container reinforces how the debris continues to emerge months after the sinking.

source : downtoearth