YIKES! 520 containers lost in Biscay

[NSboatman]

gCaptain Maritime & Offshore News | Maersk Line: Loss of Containers “Worse than Feared”


Heads up out there if you're anywhere near Biscay!

of course, if you're anywhere near Biscay, you'd be crazy to be outside right now anyway. wicked winter on that coast.

and now we have 520 more containers to think about. The empty ones will almost certainly eventually sink, but it could take a long time.

Interesting they say that annually ~350 containers are lost - presumably worldwide.

...hopefully none of them can make way on their own in flat calm water with enough force to hole a Cal midships (Redford fans will get the reference ).

Not to make light of it though - this is scary stuff to know!

bg

[goboatingnow]

The vast majority will sink or blow ashore

Dave

[1000 islands]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The vast majority will sink or blow ashore

Dave

But it would only take one to seriously damage a fiberglass boat.

[Suijin]

I swear, I think "All is Lost" is going to sailors what "Jaws" was to beachgoers. Worrying about getting bitten by a shark or hitting a container at sea is like worrying about getting hit by lightning.

You don't carry a metal ladder across a golf course during a thunderstorm, and you make sure you have the the proper gear on board to deal with a hull breach. Beyond that, just keep calm and carry on.

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

The vast majority will sink or blow ashore
Dave

So it will be a "minority problem"

Sounds politically incorrect

[robert sailor]

Containers are not nice floating around..I had a very close encounter with a fin whale about 50 feet long offshore and for months I swore I was going to buy a steel boat but I have since sort of forgotten about it.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

So it will be a "minority problem"

Sounds politically incorrect

DW...

You sure have a handle on Americanized humor!!!

Thanks for the laugh!

[Tellus]

...and it´s only one vessel that lost boxes. Several other ships lost wood and boxes too that winter in Atlantic.
...
Notice of today: On the way from Bueons Aires, where he ran out on the 10.2., the Liberian refrigerated freighter "Polarstream", 11417 gt, the Atlantic Storm Ulla Lake impact damage suffered. The ship in the port of Dover Moore on the 18.2. at 11:30. Container went over to starboard and were partly damaged on deck.

Yeah, and I´m in contact with some guys for bringing its boats to Med. First one in April/May..happy sailing. I´m not a

[S/V Alchemy]

Why containers all don't have EPIRBs, RFIDs or some kind of electronic tag so they can at least show up as AIS targets is beyond me. The technology is easy enough to apply and would likely aid port workers in identifying their provenance and contents...although it's running into one at 4 AM I find disagreeable.

[senormechanico]

Bit of thread drift, but I found this at that link.
Great video about Houston Pilots.

Houston Pilots 2014 - YouTube

[dennisjay]

Wikipedia says between 2,000 and 10,000 containers are lost at sea each year.