The Supreme Court issued a notice of claim for the sinking of the MSC Elsa on 3

Containers from MSC Elsa 3, which sank in outer Kochi, washed ashore near the Kollam Sakthikulangara coast. File. | Photo credit: C. Sureshkumar

The Supreme Court on Monday (September 21, 2026) issued a notice on a special leave application filed by R. Saji Surendran, whose cargo sank with the container ship MV MSC Elsa 3 off the Kerala coast in May 2025.

A bench headed by Justice KV Viswanathan sought a response from Elsa 3 Maritime Inc., the company that owned the vessel. The incident took place when the vessel was sailing from Vizhinjam to Kochi.

Mr. Surendran was represented by Senior Advocates V. Chitambaresh and VJ Mathew, Advocate Joy Thattil Ittoop and Advocate Anu Bhuvanachandran. He was sending a shipment of cashew nuts when the incident occurred. The State of Kerala was also impleaded as a respondent.

At the heart of the dispute is the extent of shipowners’ liability and the statute that would govern the litigation.

The petitioner argued that the claim could not be brought as an independent admiralty action under the Admiralty (Jurisdiction and Settlement of Maritime Claims) Act, 2017. The Kerala High Court had earlier held that the shipowners’ claim for limitation of liability was maintainable as an admiralty action.

Published – 21 Sep 2026 23:18 IST