All these container horror stories

Mirelle

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I thought I should just mention that, according to some new research by the TT Club (The Through Transport Mutual Insurance Association), the main insurer of containers and container operations, the actual number of boxes lost overboard annually appears to be about 2,000, world wide. This is a lot less than some earlier estimates had suggested.

If this number is right, the chances of hitting one are negligible; not all the 2,000 will have expanded polystyrene packaging of electronics inside (allowing them to float) and not all of them will leap overboard in N Europe, the Mediterranean, the Tasman, the East and West coasts of the USA and the Caribbean.
 

philip_stevens

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I agree with you about not all containers are packed with polystyrene packaging. As an ex-Electrical Officer with 25 years service with a major British containership company, I can tell you that an empty refrigerated container will float by dint of the insulation between inner and outer casings.

The North Atlantic in winter is a bad place for boxboats. They can roll like hell, and boxes do come away from their lashings, especially if they only have twistlocks and no lashing bars. And float they will and do.

regards,
Philip
 
G

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Mirelle, when you consider the number of containers lost each year compared with the actual number in circulation, it is a tiny proportion.

If some stories were to believed the oceans of the world were littered with them. Any time that a yacht strikes a floating object it is alwas a container that is suspect whereas the real truth is that there are very few of them adrift.

Idneed, although most pundits talk about Ellen McArthus having struck one during the closing stages of the race she always said that she didn't actuallt see what she hit. It could have been anything.

Incidentally I worked for many years on transatlantic container ships and I have never seen one lost over the side.

Regards
Howard
 
G

Guest

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The number of containers lost as a proportion of the total in circulation is irrelevant to the risk of collision, it is the actual number that are lost that counts. In calculating my chances, I don't care how many are safely on shore or secured aboard a container ship. In fact, the more containers in circulation, the greater the risk of one of them making an unplanned exit.
Incidentally, I feel owning a thick hulled GRP boat with a long integral keel and skeg-hung rudder (Vancouver) MAY reduce the damage if I meet one of these rogues, depending on how it is positioned. I guesstimate my chances of survival are maybe 50% better than having a screwed-on fin and hanging rudder waiting to be knocked off. Any comments?

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by edward on Mon Jun 4 19:19:41 2001 (server time).</FONT></P>
 
G

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Spoken like a true Vancouver owner! Do Northshore make the hulls?
 
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