Kerala state government has confirmed the sinking of Liberian container ship ‘MSC ELSA 3’ off the Kochi coast on 25th May. The cargo ship is reported to have carried a large amount of teak wood, core veneers, logs and face veneers along with a considerable amount of hazardous chemicals which may pose a potential threat to marine pollution.
The timber consignment of many Indian Wood panel companies aboard might have been drowned in the Arabian Sea near Kochi, however the exact loss of their cargo is yet to be ascertained. The timber shipments are reported to reach Kochi, Tuticorin, Vishakhapatnam port, says a Delhi based timber importer.
The Mercantile Marine Department, Kochi, has issued a pollution liability warning to the vessel owner. Given the sensitive marine ecosystem along the Kerala coast, ICG has activated full pollution response preparedness. ICG aircraft equipped with advanced oil-spill detection systems are conducting aerial surveillance, and ICG ship Saksham, carrying pollution-response equipment, remains deployed at the site. The maritime incident has raised serious environmental concerns, including the potential for oil spilling and marine pollution. So far, no oil spill has been reported.
The vessel reportedly went down with 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous cargo and 12 containing calcium carbide. It was also loaded with 84.44 MT of diesel and 367.1 MT of furnace oil.
Indian coast guards swung in action to rescue the workers and foreign officials aboard the ship. All the crew members have been rescued.
As per the reports, the vessel had some stability issues. One of the things could be that maybe some of the container lashings. There’s a very common practice where declared container loads are incorrect. What is stated in the cargo manifest may actually not be so—there may be actually much more than that.