Tanker / shipping
41 cases in 44 countries, 1869–2026. Most cases: United Kingdom (10), United States (7), Türkiye (6), China (3), Greece (3).
Koç and Sabancı named partners of COP31 climate summit in Antalya
Koç and Sabancı holding companies were named COP31 partners, with Koç as global partner and Sabancı as electrification partner, and the fees were not disclosed. At stake for nature is how far sponsors whose businesses include oil refining and lignite power shape the climate talks.
Erikli water brand changes hands in Nestlé–Platinum Equity partnership
Nestlé and Platinum Equity are forming a partnership worth 4.9 billion euros that includes the Erikli water brand, Evrensel reported in 2026. The cited sources do not state the price, the stakes held, or where Erikli's water is drawn from.
Gulfstream oil spill (Tobago)
In February 2024 a barge with no recorded flag or insurer released about 4,652 tonnes of fuel oil off Tobago, and the oil reached Bonaire, 830 km away. The registered owner had not been identified, and the IOPC 1992 Fund paid the claims.
Volgoneft 212/239 spill (Kerch Strait)
Two Volgoneft tankers were involved in an oil spill in the Kerch Strait on 15 December 2024. In August 2025 a Krasnodar court was reported to have awarded RUB 49.46bn against the owner of the Volgoneft 212.
Princess Empress oil spill (Philippines)
The tanker Princess Empress spilled oil off Mindoro on 28 February 2023. Of PHP 15.06bn claimed, PHP 3.88bn was approved and PHP 2.71bn paid.
FSC suspends Vietnamese pellet maker An Viet Phat Energy over false claims
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) suspended An Viet Phat Energy (AVP), a Vietnamese wood-pellet producer, in 2022 over false claims about large volumes of pellets. FSC Asia-Pacific reported that the integrity of wood-pellet supply chains was at risk.
X-Press Pearl ship disaster (Sri Lanka)
The ship X-Press Pearl, carrying chemicals and plastic pellets, was lost off Colombo in 2021. A London court limited the owners' liability to about £20 million; Sri Lanka's Supreme Court ordered an interim US$1 billion, which had not been paid at the latest report.
Israel tar spill, February 2021: unidentified tanker, IOPC Fund compensation and oiled turtles
Tar washed up along Israel's Mediterranean coast in February 2021. The 1992 IOPC Fund treated it as a spill of unidentified origin and authorised payment of admissible claims; the Michmoret rescue centre received 10 injured sea turtles in two days.
Turkish court annuls 2021 transfer of Gezi Park ownership
Gezi Park's ownership was transferred to a foundation in 2021, and a court annulled the transfer in 2024. The cited sources give no data on the park's ecological condition.
MV Wakashio oil spill (Mauritius)
The MV Wakashio ran aground off Mauritius in 2020. Its owner sought to cap its liability under the LLMC regime; on 23 February 2026 the Supreme Court of Mauritius refused limitation for oil pollution claims.
China National Sword plastic import ban and container returns
China banned imports of most plastic waste from 1 January 2018. A 2018 study estimated the ban would displace 111 Mt of plastic waste by 2030, and later shipments ended up in other countries, some of which returned containers to the senders.
Malaysia imported plastic waste crisis (Jenjarom)
After China largely closed its doors to plastic waste in January 2018, imports into Malaysia rose and unlicensed plastic-burning plants opened around Jenjarom. In January 2020 Malaysia sent 150 containers back to 13 countries.
Sanchi tanker collision and condensate spill, East China Sea, 2018
On 6 January 2018 the Panama-flagged tanker Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of condensate loaded at Assaluyeh, collided with the Hong Kong-registered bulk carrier CF Crystal in the East China Sea, burned and sank on 14 January; three crew died and 29 were missing. The spokesperson of the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said in January 2019 that insurers had paid US$50 million of US$256 million in claims.
Greenpeace leaves the Forest Stewardship Council in 2018
Greenpeace International ended its membership of the Forest Stewardship Council, a forest certifier, in March 2018. The cited sources do not describe the terms of the exit or its effect on certified forests.
North Atlantic right whale deaths and US vessel-speed rule withdrawal
NOAA maintains an Unusual Mortality Event page for North Atlantic right whales covering 2017 to 2026. A news report carried the headline that NOAA had withdrawn a proposed rule requiring ships to slow down.
Plastic waste imports into Türkiye (Adana)
Türkiye received 510,000 tonnes of European Union plastic waste in 2025, the largest share of any destination. A 2026 European Commission assessment said the findings pointed to a need for substantial improvements, and Human Rights Watch and Greenpeace reported harm to workers and dump sites around Adana and Istanbul.
Thunder fishing vessel chase
Sea Shepherd pursued the fishing vessel Thunder for what it calls 110 days in 2014–15 until the ship sank off São Tomé and Príncipe. Three of its officers were convicted there, and its owner was fined in Spain in 2018.
Atlantik Confidence deliberate sinking (Oman)
A bulk carrier carrying steel caught fire and sank off Oman in April 2013. An English court found in 2016 that it had been sunk deliberately at the request of the person it described as the owners' alter ego; the hull underwriters, who had paid US$22 million, then sued to recover the money.
Pakistan ordered to pay Karkey about $800 million over seized powerships
Pakistan's Supreme Court found Karkey's powership contract irregular and annulled it, and an ICSID tribunal then awarded the company compensation. The cited sources do not describe the plants' environmental impact.
Brillante Virtuoso tanker
A tanker was set on fire off Aden in 2011 in what was presented as a pirate attack. A London court found in 2019 that the owner had deliberately caused the loss; the surveyor who inspected the ship was killed by a car bomb.
MV Rak Carrier coal and oil spill (Mumbai)
A coal-laden ship went down about 20 nautical miles off Mumbai in August 2011, and oil and tar balls reached beaches as far as Raigad. The ship's Romanian insurer refused to pay for environmental damage; in 2016 India's National Green Tribunal ordered the owners to pay Rs 100 crore.
Rena grounding (New Zealand)
The container ship Rena ran aground in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on 5 October 2011. The cited sources give figures for government costs and an insurer settlement, none of which could be checked against a primary document.
TNC chief scientist urged conservation groups to partner with companies
In a 2012 essay, The Nature Conservancy's chief scientist Peter Kareiva and co-authors argued that nature recovers quickly and that conservation should be justified for people. Other conservation scientists objected, and TNC's 2011 partnership with Dow Chemical was reported as a five-year, 10 million dollar collaboration.
Alexander II fishing boat sinking attempt
In August 2009 the owner of a fishing boat arranged for its crew to flood and sink it off New Jersey. The attempt failed and the Coast Guard rescued the crew. The insurer denied the owner's US$400,000 claim. The owner and three others pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison in 2012 and 2013.
UK packaging recycling notes (PRN) system and fraud cases
The UK counts packaging recycling through tradable notes, which producers buy to meet recycling obligations and which exporters obtain for waste sent abroad. The National Audit Office found in 2018 that half of the recycling the notes subsidised was exported, with no check on what happened to the waste on arrival; later cases include a note-fraud conviction and arrests.
Hebei Spirit oil spill
An oil spill from the Hebei Spirit off Taean, South Korea, on 7 December 2007 produced claims of KRW 4,227 billion. The compensation limit under the international conventions was KRW 321.6 billion, and the Korean state paid the remaining claims.
Kerch Strait storm, November 2007: Volgoneft 139 fuel-oil spill and sulphur-ship sinkings
On 11 November 2007 the tanker Volgoneft 139 broke in two in a storm in the Kerch Strait and fuel oil spilled; three sulphur-laden cargo ships sank in the same area. Russian courts awarded RUB 503.2 million in 2012; the IOPC 1992 Fund had paid RUB 337,734,596 by the end of 2018, and the insurer Ingosstrakh had paid one claimant.
Nature Conservancy began $10 million partnership with Dow Chemical in 2011
The Nature Conservancy began a five-year, $10 million cooperation with Dow Chemical in January 2011, and reporting cited in the sources says WWF has had a $20 million relationship with Coca-Cola since 2007. The sources do not settle whether company money shapes conservation advice.
Erika oil spill
The Malta-flagged tanker Erika was involved in an oil pollution incident off Brittany, France, on 12 December 1999. In 2012 France's Court of Cassation upheld criminal liability for four parties, including Total SA, and held Total could not rely on the shipowner's liability channelling.
Nissos Amorgos tanker spill, Gulf of Venezuela, 1997, and the US$60 million environmental-damage judgment
The Greek tanker Nissos Amorgos ran aground in the Maracaibo Channel on 28 February 1997 and spilled an estimated 3,600 tonnes of crude oil. Venezuelan courts upheld a US$60 million environmental-damage claim by the State against the master, shipowner and Gard Club, while the 1971 Fund considered the claim inadmissible; payment to the State is not on record.
Plate Princess spill, Puerto Miranda, Lake Maracaibo, 1997, and the fishermen's judgment
The tanker Plate Princess spilled some 3.2 tonnes of crude at the Puerto Miranda terminal on Lake Maracaibo in 1997. Venezuelan courts ordered the 1971 Fund, which was not a defendant, to pay about £57.2 million to two fishermen's unions; the IOPC recorded that no compensation was paid and the Fund was dissolved on 31 December 2014.
Grecia Express ferry scuttling (Greece)
The ferry Grecia Express sank at Aegion in the Gulf of Corinth in 1994. The insurer alleged that the owner scuttled her; an English court found the owner not complicit and ordered US$9.9m, including anti-pollution expenses.
Exxon Valdez: the spill, insurance and court cases
An Exxon tanker spilled about 257,000 barrels of crude oil in Alaska in 1989. A jury awarded $5 billion in punitive damages; 19 years later the Supreme Court reduced it to $507.5 million. Exxon's excess insurers refused cover on 33 grounds and paid $780 million after a lawsuit, in addition to $400 million from a P&I club.
Rigel scuttling (Calabria)
The cargo ship Rigel sank off Calabria in 1987 after sailing with a declared cargo of marble. A La Spezia court accepted that the sinking was deliberate and an insurance fraud; the real cargo was never established and a suspicion of toxic or radioactive waste was never tested because the wreck was not found.
Ikarian Reefer fire (Sierra Leone)
A refrigerated cargo ship ran aground off Sierra Leone in 1985 and then caught fire. Underwriters refused a claim of about US$3 million, alleging the fire was set with the owners' connivance; the Court of Appeal found in 1995 that the fire was deliberate.
Salem tanker
A supertanker sank off West Africa in January 1980. Most of its cargo had already been sold in Durban, and Lloyd's cargo insurers refused to pay for it.
Amoco Cadiz oil spill (France)
The Amoco Cadiz oil spill occurred off Brittany on 16 March 1978. French claimants sued the owner's parent group in a US court; the award recorded was under half of the initial claims.
Lucona sinking (Indian Ocean)
In January 1977 a time bomb sank the cargo ship Lucona in the Indian Ocean; six of the twelve people aboard died. Udo Proksch, who had declared and insured the cargo, was later convicted of six murders and fraud.
Torrey Canyon spill and creation of the IOPC Funds
The 1967 Torrey Canyon spill off south-west England led governments, the shipping industry and the oil industry to build a two-tier compensation system for oil spills from tankers. Later spills show where that system's limits fell.
Lessepsian invasions: pufferfish in Turkey and bounty payments
Since the Suez Canal opened in 1869, hundreds of Red Sea species have entered the Mediterranean. On the Turkish coast, fishers report net damage from pufferfish, and the state pays a bounty for each one removed.
Brazil regulator cancels Karpowership floating power plant permits
Brazil's electricity regulator ANEEL cancelled authorisations for Karpowership's floating thermal plants in August 2022. The company had also been exempted from environmental impact assessment, and at stake is whether such plants can run without a full review.