22 June 2025, NIICE Commentary 11334
Dr Chander Shekhar
May and June 2025 have been challenging months for India, wherein two merchant ships, MSC ELSA-3 and Wan Hai-50, hit the western maritime coastal water and created havoc after carrying hazardous materials and sinking near the Kerala coastline to damaged marine assets of India. The area is full of maritime biodiversity and, for scientific reasons, needs special protection from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), but not recognized. These two incidents have shown the vulnerabilities of the ecosystem due to shipping accidents. The site is significant for socio-economic reasons, connected India from the beginning. Although the MSC ELSA and Wan Hai incidents were handled by Indian Coast Guard, Port State and Indian government, however, being a category B member of the IMO Council, it is imperative for India to initiative this issue to the IMO and incorporate the sites of accidents mentioned above as the Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) for special protection as it is vulnerable to future damage by maritime activities, such as oil spilling, fire on board, abandonment of ships by companies, and given the weakness of FOC (Flag of Convenience), rather waste dumping ground, it has to be given special recognition for maritime wellness and avoid future maritime disasters.
Maritime Incidents
In the back-to-back, the two maritime incidents have shaken India’s maritime vision based on sustainability and the well-being of oceans by hitting two container vessels on its nearest coastline carrying ecologically sensitive materials. On 24 May 2025, the Liberian-flagged MSC ELSA-3, with the Liberian flag, was reported to have sunk off the coast of Kerala, which was around 14.6 nautical miles away. With its comprehensive implications, the state government declared it a state-specific disaster. This shipwreck presented a significant threat to coastal waters and has social, economic, and environmental impacts. Among 640 containers, 12 had sensitive hazardous materials. The Indian Coast Guard rescued around 21 crew members who come from nationalities, like Russia and the Philippines. The High Court also observed that the shipwrecks which happened in the country’s 200 nautical miles (EEZ) are qualified as an economic loss in terms of loss of living beings. Within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), the country has sovereign rights to manage, exploit, and conserve both living and non-living natural resources.
In less than a month, another incident took place off the coast of Kerala on 9 June, which involved explosions and fire during its transit from Colombo to Mumbai. This Wan Hai 503, a Singapore-flagged ship, got attention after out of 1700 containers, 140 containers carrying hazardous cargo and 22 seafarers from nationalities, such as Chinese, Indonesian, Taiwanese, and Myanmar. The coastal police have registered cases against the responsible parties, citing negligence and lapses in safety compliance. These charges are comprehensive handling with toxic substances, endangering human life, obstructing lines of navigation, and another charge of conspiracy against the crew’s unified actions threatens the maritime safety and security in the water. Among other countries, China and Taiwan thank India for the timely and swift rescue of their crews by the Indian Coast Guard.
Challenges of FOCs and Avoiding Future Maritime Disasters from Dumping Sensitive Materials
The FOCs, or Flag of Convenience, is one of the weakest inventions in the Shipping industry. Ships are run in international waters; for that, they require registration of ships, which is made in a country with weak regulations, law enforcement, and cheap registration fees. As per the ITWF, an FOC is one “that flies the flag of a country other than the country of ownership”; it is offered to a country without a shipping industry and ignores the safety of crew, ships, welfare responsibilities, etc. The top FOCs countries are mostly represented by Panama, Liberia, and the Marshall Islands. In the year 2022, they accounted for over 44% of the world’s cargo.
The Ship registration plays an important role in the safety and security of maritime transport and contributes to the preservation of the marine environment. On the other hand, the fraudulent registration of ships has caused concern for the safety and security of the maritime ecosystem, which could be a national security threat to another country. The DG Shipping in India have expressed concerns of such actions which often have led them to blacklisted in the governance.
Therefore, the FOC placed a serious concern for stakeholders, such as seafarers, who for them “unsafe vessels, or vessel of death, poor safety, being unpaid, poor on-board conditions, over-work, and most importantly is the crisis of abandonment” without food and medical safety. The shortcomings of FOCs could be exploited by enmity in inter-state relations by creating maritime disasters as well, which has the potential for maritime safety, prosperity, and security.
Recognition of the PSSA site around Indian Water under the IMO
The incident sites of the above-mentioned ships do not fall under the International Maritime Organization’s Particularly Sensitive Sea Area (PSSA) under its protection list. The PSSA is “an area that needs special protection through action by the IMO because of its significance for recognized ecological or socio-economic or scientific reasons and which may be vulnerable to damage by international maritime activities”. There are over 18 PSSAs globally recognized by the organization. Under the guidelines, the PSSAs sites are specially protected by ships routing measures “an area to be avoided within defined limits which is subject to avoid ship navigation by all classes of ships”. Among other coastal states, Kerala’s State Biodiversity Board says the water is rich in marine biodiversity species and coastal resources, including Crustaceans, seaweeds, zooplankton, corals, echinoderms, mollusks, turtles, etc. These diverse organisms are valuable in maintaining the ecological environment and balance.
Mr. Dominguez, SG of the IMO, also expresses concerns during the 3rd UNOC in Nice, France, where he stated that “We all have a responsibility to safeguard our precious marine environment and resources, on which we all depend.” He further underscores the organization’s approach to dealing with marine environmental issues harmed by shipping activities by developing new regulations, preventing marine pollution, and preserving biodiversity by seeking a legally binding understanding to prevent shipping-led disasters.
Policy Insights
The two maritime disasters, MSC ELSA-3 and Wan Hai-50, are watershed moments. Around 95 percent of the country’s trade by volume and 68 percent by value is passed through maritime transport. India is well aware of its importance and a safe area of transportation; therefore, being a member of the IMO, it has always insisted on the safety, security, and prosperity of the maritime sector for the international community.
However, FOCs registered ships need to be carefully monitored in terms of the substances they carry for coastal and maritime environment safety. Before giving permission, a ship’s profile about abandonment and safety mismanagement needs to be cleared. Likewise, India needs to initiate deliberation on recognizing several coastal sites as part of the IMO’s PSSA so that future maritime transport accidents carrying hazardous materials could be avoided. Along with improving port infrastructure, India needs to focus on increasing its flagged vessel fleets and cautioning against giving clearance to fraudulent shipping companies.
Dr Chander Shekhar is a Researcher and Author at the Centre for International Politics, Organizations and Disarmament, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
