Sri Lanka, Sept. 23 -- A Singapore-headquartered shipping company today (23) announced that it will refuse to pay Sri Lankan court-ordered damages of US$1 billion for causing that country's worst case of environmental pollution.

In an exclusive interview, X-Press Feeders chief executive Shmuel Yoskovitz said he believed paying would have wide-ranging implications on global shipping and "set a dangerous precedent".

The company operated the Singapore-registered container ship MV X-Press Pearl that sank off the Colombo Port in June 2021 after a fire - believed caused by a nitric acid leak - that raged for nearly two weeks.

Its cargo included 81 containers of hazardous goods, including acids and lead ingots, and hundreds of tonnes of plast...