Over 1900 Containers Could Be Lost or Damaged in Storm

On Monday night, a violent storm hit an Ocean Network Express (ONE) containership on its way to the Port of Long Beach. A large number of shipping containers were lost overboard. Others were damaged. According to ONE, over 1,900 containers could have been lost or damaged. Of those, 40 are believed to be dangerous goods containers.

According to an American Shipper article by Kim Link-Wills that staggering number of shipping containers lost or damaged is “more than the average number of containers lost in an entire year from all vessels around the globe.” Later in the article, Link-Wills puts that further into perspective by providing from the World Shipping Council data that between 2008 and 2019 only an average of 1,382 containers were lost at sea per year.

ONE’s Press Releases

There are two statements ONE released about the incident. The first statement reports that CV ONE Apus lost a significant number of containers when severe weather caused it to roll heavily. Here’s that full but brief statement:

Statement 1 – 1st December 2020

NYK Shipmanagement Pte Ltd as managers of the container vessel ONE Apus (IMO# 9806079) regret to report that a significant number of shipping containers were lost overboard during severe weather on the night of Monday 30th November 2020 at 2315LT approximately 1600NM North West of Hawaii, USA.

The vessel was en-route from Yantian, China to Long Beach, USA when it encountered a storm cell producing gale-force winds and large swells which caused the ONE Apus to roll heavily resulting in the containers to dislodge and fall into the ocean. The Master diverted the vessel to ensure the ongoing safety of the crew and ship until conditions eased.

A notification was sent to the USCG in Honolulu and NYK Shipmanagement is coordinating with stakeholders to find a port of refuge for the vessel to assess any damages and determine the numbers of containers lost.

A full investigation will be conducted into this incident in conjunction with the Flag State and the relevant maritime authorities.

More information will be provided as it becomes available.

The second statement from ONE revealed more information, giving the estimate of over 1,900 containers lost or damaged. Here’s the full text of that release:

Statement 2 – 2nd December 2020

Chidori Ship Holding LLC as owners and NYK Shipmanagement Pte Ltd as managers of the container vessel ONE Apus (IMO# 9806079) report that the ship is now proceeding in a westerly direction towards Japan with plans to seek a suitable port to right unstable containers, assess any damages and determine the exact numbers of containers lost after encountering severe weather on the night of Monday, November 30 2020.

The vessel was on passage from Yantian, China to Long Beach, USA approximately 1600NM North West of Hawaii, when it encountered a violent storm cell producing gale-force winds and large swells which caused the ONE Apus to roll heavily resulting in the dislodging of the lost containers.

A notification was sent to the JRCC in Honolulu and Guam with maritime navigational warnings subsequently broadcast.

Early investigations onboard the ONE Apus have determined that the impacted container bays remain unsafe for close-quarter inspections; however, it is estimated that the number of lost or damaged units could exceed 1,900, of which some 40 are believed to be DG containers.

Our focus remains on getting the ship to a safe port to ensure the ongoing safety of the crew, the vessel and the cargo on board.

A full investigation will be conducted into this incident in conjunction with the Flag State and the relevant maritime authorities.

More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Investigation

Shippers whose goods were on the ship but in containers that were not damaged will obviously experience significant delays in the arrival of their imports. It will probably be a while before it can be sorted out whose containers of goods were lost, whose were damaged, and whose survived the storm unharmed. Any goods onboard being imported as a last push for the holiday almost certainly will not make it in time for Christmas.

Investigations will have to look into whether the containers onboard the CV ONE Apus were properly lashed and secured. While putting the amount of loss from this incident into perspective, Link-Wills pointed out one of this year’s highest profile cases of shipping containers lost at sea: the APL England off the coast of Australia. In that case, with only 50 containers lost, “the master of the container ship was charged in Australia for not ensuring the vessel was operated in a manner to prevent pollution of the marine environment.”

Shipping and Freight Resource posted an article after the APL England was released after undergoing investigation, sharing the following findings:

… that the lashing arrangement for the cargo was inadequate and that some of the securing points for containers on deck were heavily corroded which cause the stack collapse and loss of containers at sea.

These findings were found to be in breach of the requirements of SOLAS (The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Seas) necessitating the detention of the ship in the Port of Brisbane till the serious deficiencies were fixed by the ship’s owner APL and the vessel operator.

It was May 24th when the APL England hit troubled seas, May 26th when it was detained, and June 19th when it was finally released.

While not quite a megaship, which has come to refer to ships of 18,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) or more in capacity, the ONE Apus is a much larger container vessel than the APL England. The APL England has a capacity of 5,780 TEU according to Shipping and Freight Resource while the ONE Apus has a capacity of 14,052 TEU. Inspecting and investigating, as a result, could take longer for the ONE Apus than it did for the APL England, especially with container bays remaining unsafe for closeup inspections as ONE shared in its second statement.

Increased Risk in International Shipping

While twenty and forty foot shipping containers are the most popular, the ONE Apus must have also been carrying a great deal of eight and/or ten foot containers in order to exceed 1,900 boxes lost or damaged. The increase in online shopping in 2020 as well as the container shortage problem the industry has been experiencing likely has resulted in an increase of smaller shipping containers used this year. It would be interesting and probably a wise idea to see risk analysis done on that.

Because of the trends of larger container ships and carrier alliances, risk for large scale loss, damage, and delay in international shipping has significantly increased in recent years. It is more difficult for shippers to diversify the ships their goods are traveling on and one incident can result in the loss of massive shipping containers, as has happened here, that are from several different carriers.

ONE is actually a joint venture of three global ocean freight carriers – NYK, K Line, and Yang Ming – which operates within the THE Alliance. Thus shipping containers on the ONE Apus could include boxes from any of those three carriers or other carriers in the THE Alliance such as Hapag-Lloyd or MOL.

Link-Wills’ article included some of the top companies at risk of suffering loss because they shipped through ONE, but these are just the tip of the iceberg:

Henry Byers, FreightWaves’ maritime market expert, said the top importers using ONE as their ocean carrier into Long Beach the past 30 days were Flexport International, MOL Consolidation, Topocean Consolidation, UPS Ocean Freight Services, DHL Global Forwarding, Kuehne + Nagel and C.H. Robinson. Other ONE customers through Long Beach include Penguin Random House, Wilson Sporting Goods and Hasbro.

Events like this also serve as a reminder of why cargo insurance is so important when importing or exporting goods.