Between 2008 and 2016, an average of 568 sea containers were lost per year, excluding catastrophic events, and an average of 1,582 sea containers per year, an average of 30 per week. In 2016, the entire global shipping industry shipped about 130 million containers, so the overall probability is that you ship a container with a 1 in 100,000 chance of being lost.
Seaworthy and transportable packaging, reasonable stowage, correct fastening and lashing, and accurate cargo weight declaration are very important for the safety of container ships, containers, cargo, crew, shore operations, and equipment. But even with all of the above, there are factors such as bad weather and rough seas that can lead to more catastrophic rare events, such as grounding of ships, structural damage to ships, and various collisions that lead to the loss of containers.
For example, the bar chart of 2013 is significantly higher than that of other years, because that year occurred the worst record in history! Shipping veterans should still remember! MOL Comfort！ It broke and sank while sailing the Indian Ocean! All 4,293 containers on the ship were lost! 77% of container losses for the entire year!
On June 17, 2013, the MOL Comfort broke almost from the very middle of the hull in an unprecedented way, and then the two parts of the ship remained in their own balance for a while.
During this time, including Longsail International Logistics, they all believed that the goods on board could still be saved. However, the stern of the ship sank on June 27, and two weeks later the bow caught fire and sank, and the entire cargo of the ship was lost!
Another maritime disaster that has gone down in recent history is the October 5, 2011, when MSC Rena ran aground near the seaport in eastern New Zealand, resulting in the loss of 900 containers and the release of more than 300 tonnes of fuel. The New Zealand government said it was the worst marine pollution ever recorded. It was not until 2016 that the wreck of the container ship "Rena" ceased to pose a threat to the navigation of passing ships. The captain and first mate ignored the basic rules of navigation and tried to "take a shortcut" to reach the destination ahead of schedule, causing the freighter to run aground and receive a court sentence of 7 months in prison!
On Valentine's Day, February 14, 2014, the bad weather that hit the Maersk Svendborg Maersk at the Port of Biscay caused a total of 520 containers to fall into the water, and fortunately, 85% of them were empty. At the time of the accident, the ship, carrying 8,160 TEUs, encountered winds of up to 60 knots and waves of 10 meters, which caused the collapse of the container stack on board.
On April 4, 2017, the 13,800TEU-class container ship MSC DANIELA was loaded in Dalian, Tianjin, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen (Chiwan, Yantian) and then caught fire when it was passing near the west coast of Sri Lanka on the way from Singapore to Egypt!
