Posted on 04/27/2021 5:14:11 AM PDT by lasereye
Containers piled high on giant vessels carrying everything from car tires to smartphones are toppling over at an alarming rate, sending millions of dollars of cargo sinking to the bottom of the ocean as pressure to speed deliveries raises the risk of safety errors.
The shipping industry is seeing the biggest spike in lost containers in seven years. More than 3,000 boxes dropped into the sea last year, and more than 1,000 have fallen overboard so far in 2021. The accidents are disrupting supply chains for hundreds of U.S. retailers and manufacturers such as Amazon and Tesla.
There are a host of reasons for the sudden rise in accidents. Weather is getting more unpredictable, while ships are growing bigger, allowing for containers to be stacked higher than ever before. But greatly exacerbating the situation is a surge in e-commerce after consumer demand exploded during the pandemic, increasing the urgency for shipping lines to deliver products as quickly as possible.
“The increased movement of containers means that these very large containerships are much closer to full capacity than in the past,” said Clive Reed, founder of Reed Marine Maritime Casualty Management Consultancy. “There is commercial pressure on the ships to arrive on time and consequently make more voyages.”
After gale-force winds and large waves buffeted the 364-meter One Apus in November, causing the loss of more than 1,800 containers, footage showed thousands of steel boxes strewn like Lego pieces onboard, some torn to metal shreds. The incident was the worst since 2013, when the MOL Comfort broke in two and sank with its entire cargo of 4,293 containers into the Indian Ocean.
Almost all the recent incidents have occurred in the Pacific Ocean, a region where the busiest traffic and the worst weather collide.
(Excerpt) Read more at insurancejournal.com ...
So one event was more than half the containers lost? And 3000 containers is a pittance compared to worldwide container traffic.
Doesn’t seem like a huge problem. Breathless sensationalism for clicks.
And not all of them sink.
Sharp, hard hazards. And/or they break open and tons of cheap Chinese crap and toxins pollute the oceans. SE Asia and the Indian Ocean have an awful problem with flotsam.
Yeah, and the “unpredictable weather” idiocy. How about not sailing through it to stay on schedule?
Easy answer, build it here.
But biden will never get that idea...Trump had us headed there...
Where’s that miss me yet meme?
The weather has not changed. Weather and sea condition forecasts are better than ever but let’s not blame human error.
In five years (1941-1945) 1,554 (cargo/tanker) ships were sunk due to war conditions (mines, torpedoes), including 733 ships of over 1,000 gross tons.
We never had weather and wind in the past. That must be it
I hope no people were being smuggled in the sinking containers. Unless they were terrorists.
C'mon folks, after all these years, FR's talking about attacks on the 2A. Sheesh...
Obviously, Shipping companies have guns too.
For a bit of perspective on the numbers...
“The World Shipping Council issued an eye-opening report last July. What seemed like a steady stream of vessel fires, capesizes and container losses was in fact a small drop in the global ocean shipping bucket. A WSC study found a tiny fraction, about .0006%, of the roughly 226 million containers shipped on the world’s oceans each year were lost.”
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/ocean-container-losses-topple-annual-average-in-2-months
Agreed.
Also loading ships to the limits of capacity is not wise.
It’s kinda like flying a cargo plane at max capacity into known turbulence. dumb.
And the ever-so-present narrative of "weather" which we are to conclude is a result of anthropogenic climate change.
If we want to reduce the number of containers spilling into the oceans, then stop buying crap produced with slave labor from China.
There is a world wide container shortage.
This has led to shipping companies jacking their rates on vessel shipment rates from Europe to USA ports.
My company ships lumber in 40’ containers from northern Europe to US ports.
The shipping companies have said to us if you want a container on this vessel sailing in May/June it is going to cost you anywhere from $2000-7000 more than when we took the order for the lumber in October of last year. I am speaking of personal experience on trades I am involved in. We(as brokers)have had to go to our customers in the US and state that we can not absorb these added freight cost. Therefore, IF you want this lumber, we have to add an additional freight surcharge of “X” to the invoice.
This is unprecedented in the lumber business. The lumber business is unlike any other wholesale business in that “our word is our bond”. We do not record our calls. We send an order confirmation. Many independent owners do not even use purchase order numbers. They just say: “put my name on it”.
Keep in mind this is for material costing in excess of $150K on a rail car or $50K on a truckload.
the ones that float are a real problem.
Thank you for providing back up for my off the cuff - but accurate - comment in #2.
btt
Keep in mind this is for material costing in excess of $150K on a rail car or $50K on a truckload.>>> Thx this explain a bit of the increase in lumber cost. a chessy train runs behind my house and i do see a lot of lumber and building products on it. so i was wondering why the high cost of lumber if the stuff seems to still be moving around.
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