The 13,100 teu Maersk Essen, which lost around 750 boxes during a storm in the Pacific on January 16, has arrived at its rerouted destination in southern Mexico.
, which The chartered-in ship decided to ditch congested Los Angeles and make for the port of Lazaro Cardenas in the wake of the accident, where sister firm APM Terminals has a concession.
Maersk anticipates it will take two to three weeks to fix the ship and get all non-damaged boxes back in place.
“All going well, the intention remains for the Maersk Essen to then call Los Angeles to deliver the cargo that is unaffected. At this point in time we are not anticipating the need to reroute the cargo from Lazaro Cardenas by land (rail) or alternate vessel, but we cannot rule out any option until the contingency plan is finalized,” the Danish liner stated in a recent update.
Claims consultancy WK Webster has observed that some containers will be unsuitable for on-carriage and will require to be trans-loaded or dealt with locally.
The Maersk Essen incident is one of four confirmed box spill accidents in the north Pacific since November 30, with unconfirmed reports suggesting another lost overboard case took place yesterday, also in the north Pacific.
Likely reasons for the spate of accidents are covered in the January issue of Splash Extra, published yesterday.
