Containers lost overboard

[Kukri]

It’s an odd one. The weather wasn’t bad. And this class have a sort of wall of deck cell guides.
But they stow four over the deck guides.


What I don’t understand is why this happened - on the second of the month - between Bremerhaven and Gothenburg.

 

[Giblets]

I wonder if the containers were from another vessel and the Maersk vessel happened on them during her voyage.

 

[newtothis]

200 containers floating around the North Sea - not good!

200 containers not floating around the North Sea

The German Coast Guard deployed the multipurpose ship Neuwerk to the area in the North Sea, approximately 200 nautical miles from Elbe estuary, where, according to fishermen, many containers were lying on the bottom, this morning. Sonar images were to be taken at the White Bank late this afternoon. The Urk fisherman was the first to spot sonar objects near the tip of the bank on Dec 3. When he passed them again later, he noticed them once more and estimated the number to be near 200.

 

[newtothis]

I'll bet!! Aside from the issues you highlight some docks have seen mass Covid-19 quarantines owing to the proximity of work conditions. Net-net, skyrocketing Shanghai to US West Coast rates have underpinned this record spike in container rates, but the supply-side remains nervous about a possible recession next year and the poor visibility surrounding post-pandemic, post-Christmas, post-restocking market conditions.


View attachment 104664

That's the index figure for all exports out of Shanghai. Asia-USWC has flatlined since China got antsy about rates a few months ago. They're high, but we're talking about $4k to send a 40ft box across the Pacific.
That adds about $0.03 to the average pair of trainers, for example.

 

[dom]

That's the index figure for all exports out of Shanghai. Asia-USWC has flatlined since China got antsy about rates a few months ago. They're high, but we're talking about $4k to send a 40ft box across the Pacific.
That adds about $0.03 to the average pair of trainers, for example.

Yes it certainly capped out mid summer. I'm guessing Shanghai-LA is still the most expensive route in terms of revenue per mile for the shipping cost?

Also interesting to see that whereas US trade volume is down 4.3% year-on-year and the EU is down 4.5%, it is up by around 9.5% in China.

 

[Chae_73]

200 containers not floating around the North Sea

The German Coast Guard deployed the multipurpose ship Neuwerk to the area in the North Sea, approximately 200 nautical miles from Elbe estuary, where, according to fishermen, many containers were lying on the bottom, this morning. Sonar images were to be taken at the White Bank late this afternoon. The Urk fisherman was the first to spot sonar objects near the tip of the bank on Dec 3. When he passed them again later, he noticed them once more and estimated the number to be near 200.

Ah right; thanks. Not ideal for bottom trawling then, but not so much of a problem for yachties and the like.

 

[Kukri]

Ah right; thanks. Not ideal for bottom trawling then, but not so much of a problem for yachties and the like.

Might be good news for fish?

Anyway, Maersk now say it never happened:

Up to 200 containers lost by mega container ship in North Sea UPDATE Maersk ruled out

 

[LittleSister]

I'm confused as to how a report of 4 'objects' seen on sonar by fisherman turns into a report of 200 'containers' supposedly lost.

 

[Kukri]

I am going to excuse myself from commenting.

Mikhail Voytenko lays into me in his online magazine with monotonous regularity. Best I say nothing.

 

[Kukri]

I found some pictures, so I’ve added them.

This sort of “weather bomb” is a known hazard of the North Pacific trade lane.

Many years ago, an OCL ship, the “Falmouth Bay”, on charter to Mitsui OSK, ran into the same trouble in the same area, and lost, if I recall correctly, around a hundred containers. and also put back to Japan.

For some reason I remember that she was commanded by John Fee and her Chief Officer was Charles Woodward, who probably should have got a medal for a remarkable act of bravery in entering the flooded under deck alleyway from the deck, in F12, taking a manhole cover off and draining the several hundred tons of water acting as free surface and impacting on the engine room to alleyway weather tight doors, into the bilge. In the water, in the dark and freezing cold

She was all of 1,200 TEU. It was a simpler age, but she was being weather routed by Oceanroutes. The late, great, Euan Corlett was asked to advise. He looked at some photos of the deck, taken in Japan, and said:

“The ladder on the fore side of the foremast has been flattened against it to a height of twelve rungs, so solid water crossed the foredeck at that height. We know the scantlings of the foremast, from the Class Rules. It has been bent back at deck level, so simple column theory tells us that the impact load on each container was (whips out scientific calculator) - eight hundred tons. Which is why they are no longer there.”

It was a tour de force of “expert witnessing”. Might amuse Pyrojames.

CX

 

[Concerto]

Looking at these photos and the earlier ones of wrecked containers, I do not think we coastal sailors can appreciate the immense force of the sea in the Pacific. They must have been massive waves with high winds to cause ships of this size to suffer such damage. Back in April 1982 I travelled on the QEII across the Atlantic to the USA and we went through two Force 9 gales. The bow of the QEII was 5 stories high and she was regularly putting her bow under. The amount of crockery and glass broken was high. I still remember a dance show that had to be cancelled mid show because the grand piano started sliding 5 ft sideways and the girls could not retain their balance. This was nothing like what these ships must have exerienced.

 

[Kukri]

 

[Kukri]

This is said to have been the last time that a British deep sea merchant ship sent a distress message. To get no reply must have been a bit worrying. The Japanese Maritime Safety Agency relayed the Mayday and a Japanese container ship stood by her until a Japanese Coast Guard cutter arrived, took over and escorted her into Kobe

 

[Slowboat35]

That's the index figure for all exports out of Shanghai. Asia-USWC has flatlined since China got antsy about rates a few months ago. They're high, but we're talking about $4k to send a 40ft box across the Pacific.
That adds about $0.03 to the average pair of trainers, for example.

By my figures...

Average Nike shoe-box apparently 35x25x12 = 10,500cu cm
40Ft Container internal volume 67cu m
=6380 shoeboxes
@ $4000 per container = ¢62 per pair - not three!

Or please set my maths right...

 

[Kukri]

If they are shipped as “all left shoes in one container, all right shoes in another container”, perhaps they may not be in the boxes that they are sold in?

Anyway, see here for more container freight rate fun:

Asia-Europe rates climb to new highs - Splash247

At those sorts of numbers the container itself is paid for in one trip. With change.

 

[Pinnacle]

By my figures...

Average Nike shoe-box apparently 35x25x12 = 10,500cu cm
40Ft Container internal volume 67cu m
=6380 shoeboxes
@ $4000 per container = ¢62 per pair - not three!

Or please set my maths right...

$4000/6380 = $0.63 per shoe box.

 

[newtothis]

If they are shipped as “all left shoes in one container, all right shoes in another container”, perhaps they may not be in the boxes that they are sold in?

Anyway, see here for more container freight rate fun:

Asia-Europe rates climb to new highs - Splash247

At those sorts of numbers the container itself is paid for in one trip. With change.

Asia-Europe rates hit highest level since early 90s as container line pay for the cost of their capital for the first time in a decade... Hardly inflationary pressures on shipped products.
The profit on those boxes is about $150.

 

[Lucy52]

We were advised by a Clarks technical manager that the cost of manufacture of trainers, any make including the top brands, was no more than £3 to £4 a pair.

 

[Kukri]

The Loadstar despite the ghastly pun in the name is a very well thought of freight forwarders’ journal. I’ve found its reporting to be careful and accurate :

Container freight rates from Asia surge to new highs – 'it's gone mad' - The Loadstar

 

[newtothis]

The Loadstar despite the ghastly pun in the name is a very well thought of freight forwarders’ journal. I’ve found its reporting to be careful and accurate :

Container freight rates from Asia surge to new highs – 'it's gone mad' - The Loadstar

There's a whole generation of forwarders that have grown up on ever-decreasing freight rates and who know little else.
They greybeards in container shipping recall the early 90s, when trade lane managers were complaining that A-Eur rates had fallen to 'only' $3,000.
The low rates of the past two decades ($353 to send a 20 ft box from Shanghai to Rotterdam in 2009) were driven by dysfunction and competition in the liner business that was ultimately unsustainable.
The industry has got its act together in recent years, particularly this year.
The rates today are a temporary blip, driven by high demand post lockdown, Christmas stocking-up (and to a small extent Brexit front loading, which is affecting UK port performance).
Ports are clogged up and there is a shortage of containers in the right places so forwarders are paying whatever it takes to secure a container and a slot on a ship.
It will start to sort itself out after Chinese New Year, but container lines have learned how to manage capacity, so we're unlikely to go back to rock-bottom freight rates again.
Forwarders will have to learn to live with that. But again, the cost of transport is such a low part of the eventual retail price of goods that is barely worth noting. If you're selling a $100 pair of sneakers, do you care if the seafreight element is $0.63 or $0.68?