Evergreen boxship loses 36 containers in bad weather

Evergreen Line’s boxship Ever Liberal has lost overboard 36 forty-foot containers off the coast of Japan with further 21 containers displaced as the ship faced rough seas last week.

The company confirmed the incident saying it took place at approximately 0230 UTC on December 30.

“The containership encountered heavy winds and rough seas while travelling from Pusan to Los Angeles. The captain of Ever Liberal immediately notified the Japan Coast Guard to alert any vessels nearby of possible floating containers,” Evergreen said in a statement sent to Offshore Energy – Green Marine.

The affected containers do not contain hazardous goods, the statement further added.

As informed, all members of the crew are safe and the ship remains seaworthy and is continuing her voyage.

“In consideration of navigational safety, the vessel has deviated from her original course to offload the damaged containers that remain onboard at the port of Taipei. Her voyage to Los Angeles will then continue as planned,” Evergreen pointed out.

The latest incident is being reported on the back of a major container loss involving ONE’s containership ONE Apus which lost over 1,800 containers at the end of November on a similar route, also due to rough weather.

Based on the latest update, ONE Apus remains berthed in Kobe, Japan as the removal of on-deck containers continues. Until now, a total of 126 units have been discharged, with discharging expected to take at least one more month or even longer.

A full assessment of the deck containers and the inflicted damage is yet to be completed.

Additional inspection and survey work are underway on the discharged units. 

“Customers will be individually contacted for appropriate cargo arrangement where necessary, once cargo information is available,” ONE said in an advisory.

“Kindly be advised that discharging operation and inspection work will be suspended during Japan New Year holiday, from 30th Dec 2020 till 4th Jan 2021. The operation and inspection will be resumed on 5th January 2021 with slower speed and special safety case as the vessel on-deck to be repaired simultaneously.”

Data from the World Shipping Council shows that there were on average a total of 1,382 containers lost at sea each year in the past twelve-year period (2008-2019).