The vessel X-Press Pearl encountered a fire onboard from a chemical leak from one of its containers. There were 1486 containers on the vessel when the fire started, 81 of which were Dangerous Goods Containers, including 25 tonnes of Nitric Acid. Other cargo consists of foodstuffs; vehicles, vehicle parts and auto products; building and manufacturing supplies and raw materials; HDPE and LDPE nurdles.

The ship underwent discharge and loading operations in both Hamad Port in Qatar and Hazira Port in India before continuing on its planned journey to Colombo. Applications were made at both ports to offload the container that was leaking nitric acid, but the X-Press Pearl was refused a port of refuge given there were no specialist facilities or expertise immediately available to deal with the leaking unit.

All of the containers onboard at the time were past fit for passage by Stevedores at their port of origin and have been transported in accordance with all of the relevant international shipping codes.

The container was passed safe for transport by the stevedores in Jebel Ali, Dubai when it was loaded en route to Malaysia. Once the leak was discovered, the crew followed all of the established procedures under the International Maritime Dangerous Goods code in dealing with the situation.

The ship underwent discharge and loading operations in both Hamad Port in Qatar and Hazira Port in India before continuing on its planned journey to Colombo. Applications had been made to both ports to offload the container that was leaking nitric acid, but the advice given was there were no specialist facilities or expertise immediately available to deal with the leaking unit.

The vessel is fully covered under internationally recognised P&I insurance and Hull and Machinery insurance.

1. The Club will receive and evaluate all legitimate claims in consultation with GSC and ITOPF.

2. The Club will evaluate all valid interim claims subject to claims being properly vouched, and reasonable.

3. The Fisheries claims will receive priority attention as requested by MEPA.

The vessel X-Press Pearl has been extracted and removed from Sri Lankan waters to a certified decommissioning facility for dismantling, recycling, and disposal.

A. The Lloyds Open Form The Owners entered into a Lloyds Open Form of Salvage Agreement with Smit as salvors on 21 May 2021. The vessel is now a wreck. A salvage contract is no longer the appropriate contract. The Owners together with their underwriters have terminated the LOF salvage contract with Smit on 11 June 2021. The LOF comes to an end on 16 June 2021. B. Caretaker Agreement The Owners and their P&I Club have appointed Resolve Marine for caretaker services on and around the wreck until a wreck removal order is issued by the Sri Lankan Authorities and a wreck removal operation put into action. Resolve Marine were appointed on 9 June 2021. Resolve will be on site on 14 June for a handover with Smit. Under the Caretaker Agreement , Resolve Marine will:

1. Guarding the wreck to prevent potential secondary collisions with the wreck by other vessels.

2. To instal navigational warning lights and markers on the wreck so that other vessels using the anchorage can see it .

3. To monitor and report if any pollution including any light sheen that comes from the wreck so that Resolve Marine and ITOPF and OSRL can deal with it,

4. To use side scan sonar to locate any sunken containers and debris in the anchorage.

5. To identify any sunken containers and how best to remove it.

6. To track and collect any debris that floats from the wreck,

7. To prevent or minimise pollution from the wreck if safe and practical, to monitor the condition of the wreck and report daily for Government information

C. Wreck Removal Contract The Owners and their P&I Club will draw up an Invitation to Tender for the removal or the wreck. This will be done with the guidance of Global Salvage Consultants. The invitation to tender will invite bids for the removal of the wreck from site and will ask the bidding parties to specify their methodology and price and terms of contraction. After all bids are received by a specified date, they will be evaluated and a decision made to appoint a wreck removal consultant. This will probably be in the form of one of the recognised BIMCO Wreck removal agreements. Due to the exposed nature of the anchorage to the prevailing South Westerly Monsoon, it is likely that the wreck removal phase will only commence in late 2021 Caretaker services will remain on site until then.

Appointed international marine pollution responders by The Owners addressed the wreckage and subsequent pollution from the incident, with all cargo debris outside the wreck's 1,000-meter safety zone being recovered from water depths over 10 meters as of 1 April 2022. The agencies mobilised for this reponse include :

• (i) the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation ( ITOPF)

• (ii) Oil Spill Response Limited ( OSRL)

• (iii) Resolve Marine under the Wreckhire Agreement

Impact of the incident on the environment and local community is of great importance to The Owners and they seek to support all efforts in alleviating the situation.

1. The Owners, via the P&I Club have to date made payments of more than USD 20 million to the affected Sri Lankan community through their national government.

2. X-Press Feeders is committed to accountability and responsibly addressing the incident, in accordance with due legal processes and international maritime law

3. The Owners are currently awaiting further arbitration by international maritime bodies to determine the next best steps to do right by the environment and communities in Sri Lanka