From 2008 to 2022, shipping containers went overboard and were lost at sea because of heavy weather, severe rolling, improper stowage, inadequate weighing, shipwreck, or other mishaps at an average rate of 1,566 per year.
Once in the water, they represent not just a massive annual loss of high-value property, but often pose a hazard to navigation for seaborne traffic as, in many cases, they remain afloat for months.
Generally the number of ‘cans’ lost has remained stable through the years, though certain years saw greater losses through sinkings or storms – 900 lost from M/V Rena when the vessel grounded off the coast of New Zealand in 2011; and the 391 lost overboard in the 2015 sinking of SS El Faro in Hurricane Joaquin.
Topping the list, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), is the June 2013 loss of the 4,293 containers written-off when the containership MOL Comfort suffered a catastrophic hull fracture which broke its back. The stricken ship split in two; its aft section sank and, days later, its fore section later caught fire and went to the bottom of the Indian Ocean 200 miles of the coast of Yemen. To date, the loss of MOL Comfort is the greatest freight vessel loss in history.
Viewed in three-year averages, the number has slowly declined. In the first period, from 2008 to 2010, total losses averaged 675 per year. The period 2011 to 2013, which saw the loss of MOL Comfort, quadrupled to an average of 2,683. The period 2014 to 2016 averaged 1,390 containers per year with the downward trend continuing into 2017-2019, with 779 containers lost.
Then the average annual loss for the two-year period 2020-2021 saw an increase to more than 3,000, largely from the November 30, 2020, ONE Apus incident in which the 14,000 TEU capacity ship lost an estimated 1,816 containers overboard in heavy weather while enroute to Long Beach, Ca., from Xiamen, PRC.
Adding to the 2020-2021 total figure was the January 16, 2021 loss of 689 containers from Maersk Essen, when the ship was north off Hawaii inbound to Los Angeles from China. The containers went overboard when the ship encountered wave action causing parametric rolling, a situation caused when a ship suddenly rolls heavily in less-than-heavy seas after a synchronization of wave encounter with twice the ship’s roll period. In the case of Maersk Essen, the rolling reportedly measured up to 30 degrees.
Then, in 2022, a dramatic drop was seen when a relative few – 661 containers – were lost at sea – a figure representing less than one thousandth of 1 percent of the 250 million ‘cans’ both loaded and empty moving cargo valued at $7 trillion through the global supply chain shipped each year.
The industry has responded with an array of efforts to address the various dimensions of the problem. The World Shipping Council (WSC) in Washington, D.C., for example, has partnered with more than 20 major stakeholders that represent about 90 percent of international shipping capacity, to mount a response.
“Every container lost at sea will always be one too many and we will continue with our efforts to make the sea a safer place to work, and to protect the environment and cargo by reducing the number of containers lost,” according to WSC President and CEO, John Butler.
The response balances on a series of initiatives based on the factual and timely reporting of container loss incidents, said Anna Larsson, WSC director of communications.
“One of our important tenets is that we need to base regulatory and safety standards on known facts. What do we know in terms of improved safety and what will have the most impact.”
The WSC’s initiatives include the required reporting of all containers lost at sea. At present, only lost containers containing dangerous goods and potential marine pollutants must be reported. A concurrent proposal before the London-based IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee would establish a similar mandatory reporting system.
According to Larsson, compulsory reporting would begin in 2026 with a revision of the IMO’s current guidelines to ensure that all containers are inspected – not just those carrying dangerous cargo – and allow inspection reports from non-governmental agencies to be considered. The revised guidelines would also require inspection for visible pest contamination, as well as amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea Convention, which make verification of container weights a legal requirement before they are lifted aboard.
Also included is ongoing work on drafting a Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units, to improve the procedures and techniques used to pack containers. The code provides guidelines on proper weight distribution in a container, proper positioning, blocking and bracing according to the type of cargo, and other safety considerations, as well as the revision of ISO standards for container lashing equipment and corner and intermediate fittings. Work is currently underway to revise the standards for lashing equipment and corner castings.
Perhaps the most significant, in the last three years, WSC and several member lines have partnered with the 42-member Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN) in an initiative called the TopTier project, which works toward developing “specific, actionable and effective recommendations” to increase container safety.
“Last year, 661 containers were reported lost, but even that is a freight train eight kilometers long,” said Jos Koning, TopTier’s senior project manager. “Percentage wise that’s minor, but it’s still a very long train. The challenge which all our partners are agreeing to is to reduce that number and go for zero loss of containers.”
Working with its partners at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands, TopTier’s initiatives is extensive research into the phenomenon of parametric rolling experienced by Maersk Essen in January 2021.
A general Notice to Mariners describing how vessel crew can plan, recognize and act to prevent parametric rolling in following seas has been distributed, while a series of videos to increase awareness of the various forms of parametric and resonant rolling that can occur and how a vessel behaves in such circumstances has been widely distributed.
In addition, a Roll Risk Estimator – a tool that allows crew to calculate the risk of parametric rolling based on vessel specifics and sea and weather conditions – is under development with ongoing research by MARIN into container and lashing gear strength, optimizing and uncertainty in stowage planning and loading, guidelines for vessel operations, and how additional safety measures could be recommended via rule or regulatory frame works.
“The challenge in the project is to focus on so many topics that affect safety like carrying so many containers, and have to keep track of them all,” said TopTier’s Jos Koning. “There are many reasons that something might go wrong, and so many things that need to be addressed at the same time.”