A CONTAINER ship is reported to have lost in the order of 1900 containers over the side during a voyage from Yantian in China to Long Beach in the US.
The ship involved was the ONE Apus, a 14,000TEU, Japanese-flagged vessel, launched last year.
It was apparently hit with wild weather north-west of Hawaii.
In a statement issued on 3 December, the owners, Chidori Ship Holding LLC, and managers, NYK Shipmanagement, confirmed the ship was now sailing to Kobe, Japan with an ETA of 8 December.
“The priority remains on getting the vessel and crew safely to port,” the joint statement read.
“Once berthed, it is expected to take some time to offload the dislodged containers that remain on board. Then a thorough assessment will be made on the exact number and type of containers that have been lost or damaged.”
So far there has been no mention of injuries.
“Whilst it remains unsafe for the crew to conduct close-quarter inspections of the impacted container bays at sea, it is estimated that the number of lost or damaged units could exceed 1,900, of which some 40 are believed to be dangerous goods containers,” the joint statement read.
“Once the ONE Apus is in port and deemed safe, a full investigation will be conducted into this incident in conjunction with the flag state and the relevant maritime authorities.”
The number of containers involved dwarfs any incidents in Australia, with prominent cases in the Australian exclusive economic zone including the YM Efficiency (81 containers) in 2018 and the APL England (50 containers) earlier this year.
