Shippers and freight forwarders are still in the dark as to what’s happening with cargo aboard the APL Vanda, a 17 282-TEU vessel that lost 55 containers overboard at the beginning of July near the Port of Djibouti, where it remains berthed.
Although cargo owners were initially informed that delivery of shipments would be delayed, CMA CGM is now facing mounting calls to clarify what’s happening with its vessel.
On Saturday, about a week and a half after the overboard incident had happened on about July 3, the Vanda again entered the Gulf of Aden, giving vessel trackers hope that it was proceeding with its sailing to Southampton, where it was initially destined.
Although it spent almost a day and half at sea, the Vanda eventually turned around and headed back to Djibouti, adding more mystery and uncertainty about what was really happening at the moment.
Speculation has it that the large container ship could have run into rough seas, or embarked on manoeuvres to assess collapsed cargo stacks.
The fact that nobody seems to know exactly the status of the Vanda, and when delivery of its cargo can be expected – presumably still intended for transhipment at the Port of Tangier following the cargo loss – is not a good reflection of the French-run line’s communication efficiencies.
In one incident, the representative of a British distributor, Bahn International, claims to have been fobbed off by CMA CGM after he enquired about the whereabouts of his company’s cargo.
Apparently he was told that if he hadn’t received word from the line by now, it meant that his cargo wasn’t among the 55 boxes that had tumbled overboard.
Should the Vanda still head for Tangier, shippers and their agents claim that next to nothing has been communicated to them.
James Hookham, director of the Global Shippers’ Forum, has slammed the lack of updates about what’s happening, saying there can be no excuse for keeping clients in the dark.
