The loss of 750 containers from the MAERSK ESSEN is the fifth reported case of a container vessel losing boxes overboard in heavy seas in the last three months.

The ESSEN incident follows the loss of containers from the ONE AQULIA (100 containers) and the ONE APUS (1,816 containers). The other incidents involved the Evergreen EVER LIBERAL, which lost 36 containers overboard in heavy seas 20 miles south of Kyushu, Japan en route to the US in late December, and an unnamed vessel operated for ZIM. The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets are reporting that 76 boxes were lost off the ZIM vessel en route from Korea to North America this month.

The growing list of incidents takes place in the context of a huge spike in demand for space on container vessels, which leads to lines trying to maximise container loadings. Over the last four years terminals across the US have been raising existing cranes and purchasing newer, higher cranes, that can handle higher deck stows, to meet the needs of their carrier clients.

Although the workhorse vessels on the trans pacific are mostly still in the 14,000 TEU range, the average call exchange in Los Angeles has increased and in 2020 exceeded 10,000 containers. Lines are putting more boxes on vessels, and at the same time more containers are being lost overboard in heavy seas.

This is not a tolerable situation from a safety, environmental or an economic perspective.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is an agency of the United Nations, responsible for the safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships. Since 2010 the IMO has been developing the second Generation of the Intact Stability Criteria’ (ISC) it first introduced in 2010.

In a front page story in the December 2020 print issue, WorldCargo News reported on a paper published in April 2020 in the Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology, where the authors gave a warning to the Korean shipbuilding industry that the second generation ISC will likely introduce new stability criteria that limit cargo intake. “When new stability criteria are implemented, new ships are more likely to have reduced onboard cargo volumes in comparison to existing ships. In the case of existing ships, there is a great possibility that they will be forced to decrease their onboard cargo volume or operating speed, which is expected to have a large impact on future ship operations,” the authors said.

Another article in the same issue of WorldCargo News noted that there are issues around stack height, the GM (metacentric height of the ship) and vessel rolling characteristics to be considered, as well as the adequacy and condition of lashing equipment, but it is not widely accepted in the industry that current loading practices present an inherent safety risk. With five reported incidents within the last three months that view is increasingly difficult to accept, and the industry is under increasing pressure to address the problem of containers lost overboard.