XL Specialty Insurance is chasing more than $1.6 million from shipping heavyweights after a pharmaceutical cargo was lost and damaged at sea last August.
On August 18, 2025, XL Specialty Insurance Company Limited filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of New York against MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A., Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., and DSV Ocean Transport A/S. The insurer says it paid out claims after containers of medical solutions and pharmaceutical products, shipped from India to the United States, were either lost overboard or damaged during a voyage on the M/V MSC ANTONIA.
According to the complaint, the cargo was loaded in good order and condition at Nhava Sheva and Hyderabad, India, and was intended for delivery in Savannah, Georgia, and Memphis, Tennessee. On or about August 28, 2024, the complaint states, numerous containers and their cargoes fell overboard from the M/V MSC ANTONIA and were lost at sea in the South Atlantic Ocean off the coast of South Africa, while other containers and their cargoes were damaged by a stow collapse. XL Specialty alleges that the defendants were instructed and agreed to maintain a transport temperature of twenty degrees Celsius throughout the carriage from Asia to the United States, and that the defendants knew or should have known that the cargoes required specific temperature-controlled conditions.
After the incident, the shippers, consignees, and/or owners of the cargoes submitted insurance claims to XL Specialty, which the insurer paid under a policy then in effect. XL Specialty claims it became subrogated to all of the respective rights, remedies, and claims for relief in relation to the cargoes, including those asserted against the defendants.
The insurer is seeking judgment against MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and Expeditors International of Washington, Inc., jointly and severally, for loss and/or damage to the cargoes identified in Schedule A in the amount of $1,346,886.52, and against MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. and DSV Ocean Transport A/S, jointly and severally, for loss and/or damage to the cargoes identified in Schedule B in the amount of $263,149.12, together with costs and interest. The complaint references the relevant bills of lading and sea waybills, as well as the contractual obligations and forum-selection clauses that establish New York as the proper venue for the dispute.
No specific insurance policy clauses are discussed in detail in the complaint, but the filing states that XL Specialty brings the action on its own behalf and, as agent and trustee, on behalf of all parties who are or may become interested in the cargoes, as their respective interests may ultimately appear, whether through subrogation, assignment, agency, or otherwise.
The complaint was filed on August 18, 2025. There is no indication in the document of a final decision or response from the defendants.
