Operations at the Port of Long Beach were disrupted on August 10 after an incident involving the ZIM-chartered Mississippi, a 5 504-TEU containership owned by MPC Container Ships.
During discharging at Pier G, approximately 67 containers collapsed or fell overboard.
Several units landed in the harbour, with some striking a clean air barge that supplies shore power as part of the port’s emissions-reduction programme.
No injuries were reported. The US Coast Guard established a safety zone around the site and has begun a joint investigation with terminal authorities.
Early indications point to either a crane malfunction or a collapse in the cargo stack, potentially linked to a list on the vessel.
The precise cause remains under review.
The Israeli line confirmed that it was working closely with the authorities to contain the impact and assess possible environmental damage.
Although on a smaller scale, the incident echoes past container losses such as the ONE Apus in 2020, which shed more than 1 800 boxes in the Pacific due to a stack collapse, and the Ever Forward grounding in 2022 that disrupted US East Coast trade flows.
These cases underline both the operational risks during cargo handling and the potential environmental consequences when containers are damaged or lost.
The Mississippi was delivered in 2024 and forms part of MPC’s modern mid-sized fleet, which is frequently deployed on ZIM’s transpacific services.
The Los Angeles port has not yet issued a full operational update, though clean-up and recovery work is under way.
