Singapore, August 14, 2025
X-Press Feeders, the former operator of the container ship X-Press Pearl, is deeply concerned with the recent decision of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, which orders an initial payment of USD 1 billion within a year, in relation to the vessel’s casualty.
Our foremost concern is the human cost that this judgment threatens to impose. The Court has effectively pronounced the vessel’s Master and local Agents guilty of criminal charges before their trials have concluded, and in the case of the Agents, even before formal charges have been filed on some of the allegations. The judgment directs the Attorney General to mandate that police investigate the Agents further and prosecute them, despite them having no decision-making role in the vessel’s operations.
The Master has already languished in Sri Lanka for four and a half years due to a court-ordered travel ban. Despite offers to deposit the maximum fine possible for the charges he faces, he remains in limbo, separated from his family and unable to resume his life or career. When the actions of the Master were addressed in court, he was neither present in court nor personally represented legally, and he was given no opportunity to answer the charges levelled against him. The judgment effectively holds him and the Agents as human collateral to ensure the compliance of the owners and operators.
The court's intent to lay all blame and liability on the vessel's owners and operators is blatantly apparent in their judgment on the Sri Lankan authorities' role in the incident. It exonerates the actions of the Harbour Master and Director General of Merchant Shipping, despite their own experts boarding and inspecting the vessel and raising no alarm or immediate reason for concern, more than a week before the X-Press Pearl sank. It also ignores the vessel's pleas for help and the refusal by three ports (in Qatar, India, and Sri Lanka) to offload the container before the fire started.
Although the court acknowledges failings by the former Director of MEPA in not issuing decisive and clear orders to take the vessel offshore, an action that would have minimised the damage to the environment and economy, it assigns no accountability or liability despite numerous and urgent requests by the owners to do so. The court termed this transgression on the part of the Chairperson “a clear departure from the collective decision-making process”.
From the very start, X-Press Feeders has expressed deep regret to the people of Sri Lanka for the impact of the X-Press Pearl’s sinking and remained committed to fully assist the government of Sri Lanka in all clean-up operations. Whilst we recognise the need for compensation for any environmental damage, we believe that it must be done in an equitable and fair manner that identifies the failings in the response and clean-up operations of the Sri Lankan government and is based on expert, scientifically based assessment of damages, without having a severe human impact. Indeed, to limit the environmental impact, the Owners have, to date, paid over USD 150 million to remove the wreck, remove nurdles from the beaches, and compensate the affected fishermen.
For more than 40 years, X-Press Feeders have been pivotal players in Sri Lankan trade. However, this judgment, which ignores accepted international maritime law, establishes an unprecedented level of risk that we, along with most shipping companies, will struggle to meet. We fear the inevitable rise in import-export costs and the broader impact on the people of Sri Lanka.
We urge all parties involved to consider the implications and ramifications of these interim findings and appeal for rational decision-making and judgments regarding liability and compensation that address the needs for environmental rehabilitation and compensation whilst ensuring the ongoing viability of trade for Sri Lankan people.