A ship’s container floating in the ocean. The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) says poor weather conditions along the country’s Indian Ocean corridor has resulted in the loss of almost 200 shipping containers over an eight-week period since July. Picture: SAMSA
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) says poor weather conditions along the country’s Indian Ocean corridor has resulted in the loss of almost 200 shipping containers over an eight-week period since July.
According to the authority, the cargo vessels affected include the MV Benjamin Franklin, the MV CMA CGM Belem, MV Maersk Stepnica, MV Rio Grande Express and MSC Antonia.
In a statement, MSC said the cargo ship MSC Antonia encountered adverse sea conditions while sailing off East London on August 28, and a number of containers were damaged or lost overboard off the coast of East London.
Samsa said the vessel arrived safely in Cape Town the next day after severe weather conditions led to the loss of 46 containers overboard and damage to 305 containers on board. The vessel was en route from Colombo in Sri Lanka to New York.
“In light of the container loss, a navigation warning has been issued to all vessels operating in the affected area,” Samsa said.
The MSC said a lot of the missing cargo and container debris had been spotted and recovered already, but it was still possible that other cargo and debris would wash ashore in the coming days.
The public has been asked not to approach containers, debris and/or cargoes found or to take away, touch or consume these items as they may pose a health risk. If anyone discovers such debris or cargoes, they should call Spill Tech at the toll-free number 063 404 2128 to report this, the MSC said.
The incident comes after the CMA CMG Belem reportedly lost close to a 100 containers overboard owing to bad weather in an area adjacent to Richards Bay. The container ship sailing under the Maltese flag encountered severe weather off the coast of Richards Bay on the night of August 15, resulting in a significant stow collapse and the loss of 99 containers overboard.
Earlier this month, the ship’s insurer representatives in South Africa launched a five-hour aerial surveillance and search for the vessel’s lost containers after several sightings of floating containers along the Wild Coast area of the Eastern Cape were reported to Samsa.
About 20 containers were spotted by the search team in a fixed-wing aircraft, but it could not readily be established that any belonged to the CMA CGM Belem.
Samsa spokesperson Tebogo Ramatjie said the authority was in the process of co-ordinating the clean-up and recovery of shipping containers, flotsam, associated pollutants, and products washing ashore along the south-east coastline of South Africa between the Wild Coast and Mossel Bay.
“In addition to the flotsam, Samsa is closely monitoring pharmaceutical bottles containing pills that continue to wash ashore. The public is urged not to consume these items under any circumstances as they may pose serious health risks,” Ramatjie said.
He said Samsa, in collaboration with relevant authorities and the owners of the affected vessel, had implemented a monitoring, recovery and clean-up plan.
He said collection points had been set up for debris washing ashore.
“The public is encouraged to call the toll-free number 063 404 2128 to report sightings of containers, pharmaceutical bottles or other debris and to obtain information on the location of drop-off points.”
Samsa said members of the public can also report sightings to their local municipality or contact the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre on 021 938 3300.
The Mercury
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