Stolt Disappointed with MSC Flaminia Ruling

Stolt Tank Containers is disappointed with the ruling of the New York District Court regarding the MSC Flaminia, unveiled on Monday, September 10.

The ruling said two parties were responsible for the losses caused by the explosion and fire on board the ill-fated containership that occurred in July 2012, claiming the lives of three crew members, those being: Stolt and Deltech.

Daltech, the manufacturer of the chemical that autopolymerized, and eventually led to the explosion on board the ship, has been declared 55 percent responsible for the losses stemming from the incident.

Stolt, Deltech’s non-vessel operating common carrier (NVOCC), bears 45 percent of the responsibility for the losses, due to its failure to inform MSC, the ocean carrier, of the dangers of heat exposure to the particular cargo and for arranging loading of the DVB into ISO containers earlier than it should have, the ruling said.

Stolt and Deltech claimed that due to the general knowledge MSC possessed regarding DVB’s heat sensitive nature eliminated “Stolt’s responsibility to effectively warn MSC about known dangers for these particular ISO containers”, which the court deemed not to be the case.

MSC, Conti, the vessel owner, and NSB, the operator of the ship, were cleared from all liability.

“We were disappointed and disagree with the ruling that found fault for the casualty rested solely with our customer, Deltech, and us, Stolt Tank Containers, in our capacity as the shipper of record of the subject cargo of dangerous goods,” the company said in a comment on the ruling.

“We are continuing to work together with our lawyers and underwriters on this matter and as the lawsuit is ongoing we are unable to comment further at this time.”

World Maritime News Staff