Each year, an estimated 10,000 shipping containers fall off container ships at sea...

[PlasmaBomb]

There was a ship that nearly dumped its load of new Mazda3s off Alaska ( they banged against the containers and were held at a 60deg angle for a long time ). I believe all the cars were destroyed.

It was Mazda3s and CX-7s as far as I recall - Mazda destroyed 4,703 cars... The ship was called the Cougar Ace, although most will recognise it as the FAIL BOAT!

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Something similar happened in England a few years back. People were claiming BMW motorbikes but I don't know if those people were really able to claim legal ownership.

Not 100% sure, they legally had to declare that they had them, then it was up to BMW.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6287457.stm

 

[CRXican]

Fedex Tracking:

2/25/04 - Left Beijing, China.
2/27/04 - Checked in Port, on Freight Container.
3/01/04 - Left port to USA.
3/07/04 - Delivered, bottom of ocean.

lol

 

[Veliko]

Not 100% sure, they legally had to declare that they had them, then it was up to BMW.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/6287457.stm

That's the one! I wonder how many of those motorbikes are sitting unused in people's garages...

And by jove those older BBC pages look dated.

 

[Veliko]

Fedex Tracking:

2/25/04 - Left Beijing, China.
2/27/04 - Checked in Port, on Freight Container.
3/01/04 - Left port to USA.
3/07/04 - Delivered, bottom of ocean.

If my experience of couriers are anything to go by that last line would read "3/07/04 - Delivered and signed for by Mr Smith".

 

[JTsyo]

So mother nature fucked over this company and then the NO&AA jumped on it's bones as well.

Unbeknownst to the captain and crew, the containers on their ship had been stacked incorrectly, with massive, heavy containers perched on top of lighter ones.

I don't see why nature gets the blame for human incompetence. I think the funds are being used to do more dives to determine if effects of the containers, could be wrong though.

 

[cerebusPu]

long and interesting story on the salvage of the failboat.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-03/ff_seacowboys?currentPage=1

 

[Capt Caveman]

Wow that's staggering... I wonder what percentage of total containers transported is that.
10,000 of them must fill several square miles... and they're all jam packed with valuables!

Not even one square mile.

With 100s of millions of containers shipped on boats and with how violent seas can be, seems reasonable that a percentage will be lost overseas. A decent number of these containers are probably empty, as many that come over from Asia go back empty.

 

[Lifted]

The only disaster is that people out there in recreational sail boats and motor boats will be jumping for the life raft if they stike one of these things at night. It's even possible to hit one during the day as they can 'float' just below the surface of the water. They are probably the biggest hazard next to major storms.

 

[AFurryReptile]

Falls off a boat...

I'm betting more of it is like "falls of a truck."

 

[edro]

I would think a scuttled ship would be much worse than a shipping container, and scuttled ships sink every day.

 

[Scotteq]

I would think a scuttled ship would be much worse than a shipping container, and scuttled ships sink every day.

If/when intentionally scuttling a ship, it's supposed to be cleaned out. Certainly in the USA there is a long, long Government Proscribed "To Do" list.

 

[Analog]

Fedex Tracking:

2/25/04 - Left Beijing, China.
2/27/04 - Checked in Port, on Freight Container.
3/01/04 - Left port to USA.
3/07/04 - Delivered, bottom of ocean.

 

[Schadenfroh]

I am sure most of the cases really are them just falling overboard, no chance of theft or smuggling and then reporting it as such when things turn up missing.

 

[rudder]

So mother nature fucked over this company and then the NO&AA jumped on it's bones as well.

they stacked their shit wrong so when mother nature hit there was a problem.

 

[sdifox]

-all things that contain liquids
-all toys
-all electronic parts

Everything sold at Best Buy comes in air tight heat-sealed plastic that can only be opened with a knife

Pretty sure dropping the container will breach all those seals with the possible exception of the clam shells.

 

[ShawnD1]

If my experience of couriers are anything to go by that last line would read "3/07/04 - Delivered and signed for by Davy Jones".

 

[BoomerD]

The only disaster is that people out there in recreational sail boats and motor boats will be jumping for the life raft if they stike one of these things at night. It's even possible to hit one during the day as they can 'float' just below the surface of the water. They are probably the biggest hazard next to major storms.

I've read numerous stories over the years about folks hitting submerged containers with boats...They're quite a boating hazard in some parts of the Pacific Ocean.

 

[CVSiN]

I don't know how they do it now but when I was in the Navy you could pretty much trail any ship by the trail of bobbing black trash bags in it's wake. On the USS Independence sponson 9 was the "trash sponson" and the place where we were supposed to officially toss trash overboard. We were supposed to poke holes in the bags to aid them in sinking and not toss them if we were within 50 miles of the shore.

The difference is when we dump crap over in the Navy it was all "biodegradable" trash food and other items in biodegradable bags.
no plastic allowed or hazmat allowed.

 

[Linflas]

The difference is when we dump crap over in the Navy it was all "biodegradable" trash food and other items in biodegradable bags.
no plastic allowed or hazmat allowed.

I assume you are talking about now? Back then (late 1970's) if it was in the trash it went over the side.

 

[yhelothar]

fixed

how is this a disaster? the shipping containers themselves are similar to sunken ships and the chinese garbage inside are plastic wrapped so no water gets in and no lead paint leaks out

You mean like ipads, ipods, and just about every electronic device you can think of? :hmm:

 

[yhelothar]

Not even one square mile.

With 100s of millions of containers shipped on boats and with how violent seas can be, seems reasonable that a percentage will be lost overseas. A decent number of these containers are probably empty, as many that come over from Asia go back empty.

It was late and couldn't think well 2 dimensionally
I did the math and it comes out to be 0.1 square miles.

 

[bignateyk]

Wow that's staggering... I wonder what percentage of total containers transported is that.
10,000 of them must fill several square miles... and they're all jam packed with valuables!

10,000 isn't staggering at all. The big container ships can carry close to 15,000 containers at a time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_container_ships

When you think about how many ships there are at any given time, and how many trips they make each year, 10,000 lost is pretty much nothing.

 

[Malfeas]

I wonder how many smuggled people are in containers at the bottom of the ocean?

 

[IceBergSLiM]

wtf????

How the hell do they clear customs with missing containers?

Who is they?