The long-running legal dispute over the fatal explosion on the MSC Flaminia, a container ship owned by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), has ended with a settlement of $290 million (RMB 2.1 billion). Norwegian chemical shipping giant Stolt-Nielsen agreed to pay up to $290 million in damages after confirming that it was partially responsible for the accident.
The incident dates back to July 14, 2012, when a fire broke out in the fourth cargo hold of the 6,500 TEU container ship MSC Flaminia while it was transiting the Atlantic Ocean from the U.S. port of Charleston to Antwerp, Belgium, and exploded during the crew’s attempts to extinguish the fire, resulting in the deaths of three crewmembers. Three crew members died. At that time, there were 25 people on board, including 23 crew members and two passengers. The accident has been cited as one of the worst maritime accidents worldwide for more than a decade.
The investigation revealed that the explosion was caused by the auto-polymerization of one or more of the contents of three tank containers containing DVB chemicals, and the fire spread from the fourth cargo hold containing three tank containers.
At the time, Stolt Tank Containers had 29 tank containers on board, three of which were stored in the fourth cargo hold. The tank containers were allegedly the cause of the fire and Stolt Tank Containers failed to adequately warn of the inherent dangers of the cargo.
In 2013, the parties involved in the fatal accident of the MSC Flaminia filed lawsuits, and all the parties were in a “free-for-all.”
After years of dispute, in July 2023, the U.S. Court of appeals affirmed Stolt-Nielsen’s liability attached to a 2018 award. The court’s decision clarified that Stolt Tank Containers and shipper Deltech were found to be 45% and 55% at fault, respectively. Based on this judgment, Stolt-Nielsen was initially expected to pay approximately $155 million in damages.
According to the latest progress in the case, Stolt-Nielsen has agreed to settle the case and pay up to $290 million in damages, admitting partial responsibility for the accident.
Following the accident, the ship was salvaged and repaired at great expense by Conti, the owner, who claimed that the MSC Flaminia had been chartered by MSC during the period of its downtime and filed an arbitration claim against MSC.
In July 2021, the Court of Arbitration awarded MSC approximately US$200 million in damages to Conti. MSC appealed the award, which was rejected by the court in 2023.
