The world’s largest container shipping company has changed course — literally — to reduce deadly collisions with a resident population of blue whales off the southern tip of Sri Lanka. Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has modified its navigation guidance for vessels rounding Sri Lanka, shifting routes away from waters where pygmy blue whales live and feed.
At a glance
- Pygmy blue whales: A resident population of pygmy blue whales — one of four recognized blue whale subspecies — lives off Sri Lanka’s southern coast, where they share space with one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.
- Ship strike risk: Traffic in the shipping lane connecting Southeast Asia and China to the Suez Canal has grown by more than 300% over the past 20 years, dramatically increasing the collision risk for whales in the area.
- Route adjustment: Researchers supported by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), the Great Whale Conservancy, and OceanCare found that shifting shipping lanes just 15 nautical miles could reduce fatal collisions by up to 95%.
Why this stretch of ocean matters
The waters south of Sri Lanka sit at a crossroads of global trade and marine biodiversity. Hundreds of cargo ships and oil tankers pass through each week, following a route that threads directly through habitat used by pygmy blue whales — animals that, despite the “pygmy” label, still grow to more than 65 feet in length.
Vessel strikes are among the leading human-caused threats to large whales worldwide. When a ship traveling at full speed hits a whale, the animal rarely survives. Because blue whale populations recover slowly and face multiple pressures, even a handful of deaths each year can set back conservation efforts significantly.
The Sri Lanka shipping lane is a particularly acute case. The overlap between critical whale habitat and a high-density commercial route created conditions where collisions were not rare accidents but a routine hazard.
What MSC actually changed
MSC, the world’s largest container shipping line by fleet capacity, updated its internal navigation guidance to route vessels around the whale habitat zone. The company described the change as aligning with advice from scientists and other key actors in the maritime sector.
“By ensuring these small changes, MSC is making a significant difference for these endangered whales,” said Sharon Livermore, director of marine conservation at IFAW. “Whales often die as a result of collisions and this population is at risk. Ship strikes are both a conservation and a welfare problem, and even one whale death is one too many.”
The rerouting is voluntary — MSC made the decision without a regulatory requirement to do so. That matters both for the whales and for the precedent it sets in an industry not historically known for prioritizing wildlife.
The push for a permanent fix
Conservationists are clear that one company’s voluntary decision, while meaningful, is not enough. The goal is to use MSC’s move as leverage to persuade Sri Lanka’s maritime authorities to bring the change before the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the U.N. body that governs global shipping routes.
An IMO-mandated shift would apply to all vessels, not just those operated by MSC. Researchers estimate that a formal 15-nautical-mile adjustment to the traffic separation scheme could cut collision risk for the whale population by 95%. That figure comes from modeling by scientists supported by IFAW, the Great Whale Conservancy, and OceanCare — organizations that have campaigned for the change for years.
The path from voluntary industry action to binding international rule is not automatic. IMO processes can move slowly, and not all shipping operators have followed MSC’s lead. Until a formal routing measure is in place, whales in the area remain at risk from the many vessels that have not changed course.
A model for industry leadership
What makes this case notable is the mechanism: conservationists built a scientific case, engaged a major industry player directly, and produced a concrete behavioral change — without waiting for regulation. Similar approaches have worked elsewhere. In the Santa Barbara Channel, voluntary speed reductions by shipping companies helped lower collision rates with endangered blue and fin whales. Off the coast of eastern Canada, route adjustments were implemented to protect North Atlantic right whales.
The Sri Lanka case adds to a growing body of evidence that targeted, science-based asks — delivered to the right decision-makers — can move large commercial operators faster than regulatory timelines allow.
The unresolved piece is scale. MSC carries a significant share of global container traffic, but dozens of other major shipping lines operate the same route. Whether they follow without an IMO mandate remains an open question, and the whale population’s long-term safety depends on an answer.
Read more
For more on this story, see: Dive Magazine
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Ghana establishes a new marine protected area at Cape Three Points
- Alzheimer’s risk cut in half by drug in landmark prevention trial
- The Good News for Humankind archive on marine conservation
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