The container ship “ONE Apus” sailing from the Yantian District of China to the Port of Long BeachCalifornia,,suffered the worst container crash in history on November 30th due to bad weather. The latest news shows that 64 of the containers that fell into the sea were carrying dangerous goods, includingbatteriesand fireworks.
FreightWaves, Seatrade Maritime, and GCaptain reported that Chidori Ship Holding, the owner of Apus, and NYK Shipmanagement, the ship management companyNYK issued a statement that at around11:15 PM on November 30th, a total of 1,816 20-foot standard containers accidentally fell into the sea. Of the 64 containers that were holding dangerous goods, 54 contained pyrotechnics, 8 contained batteries, and the remaining 2 contained liquid alcohol.
Chidori and NYK Shipmanagement are cooperating with the United States Coast Guard’s Honolulu Joint Rescue Center for salvage, but so far no containers have been seen. After the accident, Apus immediately returned toAsiaand is expected to arrive at the Port of Kobe, Japan at about 10 PM ET on the 7th. It is unclear who owned the cargo that fell into the sea.
FreightWaves marine market expert Henry Byers said that in the past 30days,using Japan’s Ocean Network Express (ONE)’s Far East Pacific 2 (FP2) route, the main importers to deliver goods to the Port of Long Beach are Flexport.International, MOL Consolidation,TopoceanConsolidation,UPS Ocean Freight Services, DHL Global Forwarding, Kuehne + Nagel, and C.H. Robinson.
The other 13 operators are Hecny Transportation, Rimports, Daniel M. Friedman & Associates, Apex Maritime, HankookTire America, Yusen Logistics, Ameziel, BDP Transport, Kintetsu World Express, Penguin Random House, Expeditors International, Harman International Industries and R.T. Express International.
The number of containers lost this time is extraordinary. Between 2008 and 2019, an average of 1,382 containers fell into the sea each year, according to figures released by the World Shipping Council in July. During 2019, the shipping industry transported a total of 226 million containers with a total value of $4 trillion.