18/01/2022
On January 7, 2022, Ocean Network Express (ONE) reported that its containership Madrid Bridge suffered a stack collapse mid-Atlantic, with around 60 containers lost overboard and another 80 damaged.
Madrid Bridge stack collapse has dominated the newspapers for the past week. As many ocean carriers begin to ramp up on their shipments for the Lunar New Year, the incident is causing serious concern to import-export service companies, shippers, and insurance companies.
On January 12, 2022, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), the company that owns the Madrid Bridge containership, provided some more details about the containership accident, which occurred mid-Atlantic.
According to AIS data on Vessels Value, K Line's 13900 TEU container ship, chartered by ONE and operating on ONE's East Coast 4 (EC4) service, traveling from Asia to the East Coast of the United States, experienced a collapse. mid-Atlantic. The ship collapsed in series with the severity of the incident not yet investigated. However, claims expert WK Webster said the Madrid Bridge container ship lost at least 30 boxes shortly after the collapse.
After that, the ship continued to travel at 19 knots in the south to reach the end of the journey. “If the Madrid Bridge container ship arrives on the East Coast of the United States well, the vessel will be calling in Charleston for a detailed assessment and to discharge the unaffected containers,” ONE said. The schedule of the container ship will be later than originally planned due to the priority of the safety of the crew, the container ship, and the cargo on board.
An investigation into the cause and extent of the accident has been initiated by ONE shipping company. According to experts, a number of causes can be foreseen and prepared to minimize similar stack collapse incidents. However, the problems of recovering any lost boxes on a container ship and dealing with damaged boxes in containers on board will be resolved.
Sea freight has faced a series of container collapses over the years. According to the insurance company, Allianz stated in a report in 2021 that there is a spike in the number of containers lost at sea in 2020 and 2021.
Consequences from these container ship collapses have caused the shipping industry to face many difficulties, typically a serious threat to the safety of container ships and crew members on board, as well as adversely affecting the shipping industry and the marine environment. In addition, many shipping lines and insurance companies have suffered significant losses with the current high rate of container ship collapse.
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