By judgment published on Friday, the Court of Appeal of the Second Circuit of the United States confirmed responsibility of the British Stolt-Nielsen, specialized in the logistics of liquid cargoes, and the American manufacturer of chemicals Deltech Corporation for the explosion and subsequent fire flared up in June 2012 on board the container ship MSC Flaminia who was sailing in the Atlantic, left from the port American of New Orleasn and directed to the Belgian one of Antwerp. The explosion, which occurred on the fourteenth day of navigation and produced from divinylbenzene produced by Deltech and transported in three container tankers, had caused the death and injury of several crew members as well as damage to the ship and loads on board.

55% of the responsibility is shared with the Deltech and 45% to Stolt. The latter manifested disappointment at the decision of the Court of Appeal which confirmed the first instance judgment of 2018 and announced that it is evaluating the possibility of appeal.

The Court confirmed that it was not liable for the accident of the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), who had chartered the ship, of the Conti 11 Container Schiffahrts-GMBH, owner of the container ship, and NSB Niederelbe Schiffahrtsgesellschaft MBH, operator operating the ship, nor of Chemtura Corp., owner and shipper of the divinylbenzene, of BDP International, which on behalf of Stolt had prepared the boarding documents of the three containers, and of the New Orleans Terminal, the terminal company where a trucks had transported the containers on behalf of Stolt.