Approximately 1 382 containers are lost at sea each year according to a review of the twelve-year period (2008-2019) undertaken by the World Shipping Council (WSC).
“With twelve years of data, it is particularly interesting to look at the trend of three-year averages, reported in each of the survey updates,” the report points out. “In the first period (2008-2010), total losses averaged 675 per year and then quadrupled to an average of 2 683 per year in the next period (2011-2013).”
This was due in large part to the sinking of the MOL Comfort (2013) which resulted in a loss of 4 293 containers, and was further impacted by the grounding and loss of the Rena (2011), resulting in approximately 900 containers lost. “Fortunately, there have not been such significant losses in a single incident reported since,” according to the report.
The next period (2014-2016), however, was marked by another vessel sinking, with the tragic total loss of the SS El Faro (2015) and loss of 33 crew members and 517 containers.
“Even with that, the three-year average annual loss for the period was 1 390, about half that of the previous period.”
The WSC points out that the downward trend continued into the most recent period (2017-2019) when the three-year average annual loss was almost halved again to 779. “There were no individual losses as significant as those noted in the previous periods, which is a welcome development. However, 2018 and 2019 were marked with a few incidents that each lost more than 100 containers.”
Looking at the issue in context, in 2019 the international liner shipping industry transported approximately 226 million containers, with cargo transported valued at more than $4 trillion.
And while proper packing, stowage, securing of containers and reporting of correct weight are very important to the safety of a container ship, its crew, and its cargo, even with proper packing of the cargo into the container and correct container weight declaration, several factors - ranging from severe weather and rough seas to more catastrophic and rare events like ship groundings and collisions - can result in containers being lost at sea. And this is despite the many interventions put in place that range from amendments to the Safety of Life at Sea (Solas) Convention to the Code of Practice for Packing of Cargo Transport Units (CTU Code),
Since 2011, the WSC has undertaken a survey of its members to accurately estimate the number of containers that are lost at sea each year. Its member companies operate more than three quarters of the global containership capacity and therefore a survey of their losses is seen to provide a valid basis for a meaningful estimate of the total number of containers lost at sea.
