MSC container ship sinks off Indian coast

According to Seatrade Maritime News, the Liberian-registered MSC Elsa 3 sank on May 25, 2025 off the coast of Kochi according to India’s Ministry of Defence. The MSC Elsa 3 was on a voyage Vizhinjam to Kochi when it developed a 26 degree starboard list.

Initially 21 crew from the container ship were rescued by the Indian Coast Guard on 24 May. The Master, Chief Engineer, and 2nd Engineer stayed onboard the vessel and were rescued on Sunday morning by the Indian Navy vessel Sujuta as the MSC Elsa 3 started to sink due to flooding one its holds.

There are fears of an oil spill 84.44 metric tonnes of diesel and 367.1 metric tonnes of fuel oil in the vessel’s fuel tanks although as of Sunday morning the Indian Coast Guard said no oil spill had been reported.

The MSC Elsa 3 was reported to have 640 containers onboard 13 listed as containing hazardous cargo and 12 with calcium carbide.

“The Indian Coast Guard has activated comprehensive pollution response preparedness and working in close coordination with State administration to address all possible scenarios.

Indian Coast Guard aircraft equipped with advanced oil spill mapping technology are conducting aerial assessment of the affected area,” the coast guard said on X on Sunday morning.

The 1997-built MSC Elsa 3 is owned and managed by the world’s largest container shipping company Geneva-based MSC, according to Equasis. The 28-year old vessel’s last Port State Control inspection was in Mangalore on November 19, 2024 when 5 deficiencies were found.

MSC owns a large number of elderly container vessels and as of November 2023 had 212 ships over 20 years old according to analysts Alphaliner.

 

 

 

Maersk and MSC to end alliance beginning 2025

Denmark's Maersk and Swiss-based MSC, the world's largest container shipping companies, said on Wednesday they had agreed to end a vessel sharing alliance in January 2025, allowing them to pursue individual strategies.

The 2M alliance was introduced in 2015 to cope with a glut of ships and weak demand, and to ensure competitive and cost-efficient operations on main shipping routes from Asia to Europe, as well as across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Both companies saw the alliance as a way to manage more capacity after purchasing new mega-ships.

More recently, MSC responded to rising shipping rates caused by pandemic-related delays and bottlenecks by increasing the size of its fleet, while Maersk has kept its fleet size mostly steady.

"Today, we have a much different strategy, where we more look at how to integrate container shipping at sea with our land-based logistics business," Maersk's head of ocean shipping Johan Sigsgaard told Reuters in an interview.

"Operating our own network gives us more flexibility and allows us to connect our ships exactly where we want," he said.

Maersk expects to be able to deliver ocean shipping at the same scale when the partnership with MSC ends without raising the cost of moving each container at sea, Sigsgaard said.

Shares in the company fell after the announcement and were trading 3.6% lower at 1103 GMT.

MSC said in a statement, "We continue to strengthen and modernize our fleet, providing us with the scale we need for the most comprehensive ocean and short-sea shipping network in the market."

MSC, privately owned by the Aponte family, overtook Maersk as the world's biggest container in 2021. Both companies hold market share of around 17%.

"We have been fighting fiercely over customers and market share the last eight years. I don't see increased competition as a result of this," Sigsgaard said.