Navigational hazard - 70 cargo containers afloat off the Outer Banks

[jibstay]

https://www.reddit.com/r/sailing/com...BH&sh=c7c55c0f

[Cormorant]

They say "may be afloat." It would be nice if the shipping company could tell what was in them, or whether any of them would definitely be floaters or sinkers.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Key facts

March 5, 2018

Navigational Hazard: 70 Cargo Containers Afloat Off North Carolina Coast

"The Coast Guard is warning mariners about more than 70 cargo containers that may be floating off the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It's more aftermath from Winter Storm Riley.

The containers fell from the Maersk Shanghai, a 110,000-ton cargo ship on its way from Norfolk, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina.

The ship called Coast Guard Sector North Carolina on the radio Saturday night, after she lost between 70 and 73 cargo containers in high winds and heavy seas. The containers fell about 17 miles off Oregon Inlet, North Carolina.

The Coast Guard urges all mariners to transit this area with caution."

[Snowpetrel]

It will be interesting to see how many are found floating. Much of the on deck cargo will be empties and should sink pretty quickly. Generally only the lower few containers in a stack are full.

Only the reefers, tanktainers and containers full of floating cargo are likely to float, and even then they may well be pulled down by the empties attached to the stack of containers with twistlocks.

[Sojourner]

Why would the empties sink? They're still closed airtight, no?

[Snowpetrel]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

Why would the empties sink? They're still closed airtight, no?

They are definately NOT airtight. The general cargo containers have leaky wooden floors and barely weathertight doors, they leak pretty badly, and the doors need to be facing aft to stop spray driving through them. There is about 1.5-2 tonnes of steel in the typical 20 footer and only a19mm (or so) hardwood floor. I guess a pocket of air could get trapped in the upper inside corner, but in this case the container would float door down and the air would bleed out through the floor quickly.

[Snowpetrel]

http://gcaptain.com/us-authorities-m...orth-carolina/

Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City crews, Coast Guard Auxiliary aircraft crews and aircraft crews contracted by the shipping company have conducted multiple overflights, locating nine containers on the surface. At present, only two of the nine sighted containers remain floating.

So of the 74 lost containers only two of the nine found after an extensive search remain afloat.