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Insurers brace for big bill as ONE reveals 1,900 boxes lost at sea

Cargo insurers of the 14,000 teu ONE Apus are bracing for a big bill with Ocean Network Express (ONE) confirming that this week’s container spill in stormy weather on the Pacific saw more than 1,900 containers tumble into the ocean, including around 40 boxes containing dangerous goods.

“The vessel was on passage from Yantian to China to Long Beach in California approximately 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii, when it encountered a violent storm cell producing gale-force winds and large swells which caused the ONE Apus to roll heavily resulting in the dislodging of the lost containers,” the Japanese liner reported in an update to the accident.

The ship has now turned around and is headed to Japan for inspection and then repairs.

A sistership, ONE Aquila, suffered a similar accident on October 30 this year, also while en route to Long Beach. The ship diverted to Tacoma and had a few days of repairs before rejoining ONE’s network on November 11.

Sam Chambers

Starting out with the Informa Group in 2000 in Hong Kong, Sam Chambers became editor of Maritime Asia magazine as well as East Asia Editor for the world’s oldest newspaper, Lloyd’s List. In 2005 he pursued a freelance career and wrote for a variety of titles including taking on the role of Asia Editor at Seatrade magazine and China correspondent for Supply Chain Asia. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The New York Times, The Sunday Times and The International Herald Tribune.

Comments

  1. Weather routing????
    When it is often suggested that about 1,500 boxes are lost annually, serious questions must be raised about one incident with one thousand nine hundred containers being lost from a single ship.

    1. El Faro thinking. The office wanted the load to get through in spite of the weather and the captain wasn’t man enough to say no to the office.

  2. 1,900 containers fell into the sea from a vessel belonging to the Japanese Liner company “ONE”

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