MSC Zoe loses 270 containers in North Sea

[Dutchie]

“MSC Zoe’s cargo manifest must be made public”

The cargo manifest of the MSC Zoe must be fully displayed. That says Ineke van Gent, mayor of Schiermonnikoog, one of the victimized islands. In addition to the washed-up items, four months after the North Sea container disaster, it is still guessing what was in the containers. The cargo manifest is secret for privacy reasons.

“We have the right to know this. There are all kinds of junk on the beach. There are rumors that toxic items were being transported. That causes unrest.” The mayor advocates providing containers with a chip and a tracking device, so that they are easier to trace.

Good to know that MSC is protective over privacy, evidently a caring company.

It is already possible to provide containers with a RFID chip, a so called tracking device, but that will only work above water and not once submerged. What she probably means is a pinger type of beacon with which VDR’s are equipped. I suppose that it is rather simple to code the acoustic pinger signal with the container tracking number so that the contents can be checked by surface vessels. I believe that I thought up a new product, we just have to convince IMO of the necessity. A start up company for the design, manufacturing and marketing of this innovative gadget is the next step. A market of millions of containers is waiting all for me…

[tugsailor]

Is 270 containers lost a disaster?

Toxic contents? Like what?

Sneakers or Trainers , and light bulbs on the beach a disaster or just a mess?

MSC and its P&I club ought to pay up promptly for a reasonable cleanup of the mess.

[Dutchie]

The light bulbs and other solids are not the real problem but especially all plastics and even sneakers are a problem as they will eventually break up in ever smaller pieces, becoming micro and nano plastics to be found in the entire food chain.

There were two known containers with dangerous goods. One with dibenzoylperoxide has been located the other one with lithium-ion batteries not yet. What’s in the still missing other containers is guesswork as the cargo manifest is secret for privacy reasons. The unwilling attitude of MSC in this matter is really scandalous. Another example: so far the only response to the invoices sent were notices of objection to the claims.

[DamnYankee]

I believe someone said it earlier in the thread. Start seizing every MSC vessel that calls Dutch ports and they should quickly bend to your demands. They are going to wait it out for the courts to chew it over anyway. It’s how business is done nowadays unfortunately.

[Dutchie]

As it turns out, after that the news agencies called on the Open Government Act to learn about the contents of the containers on the ship, they were only described very globally. This is confirmed by the cargo lists, which are now in the possession of the agencies but no details were given, the relevant texts in the documents were blacked out.

Only the general type of goods it contains is specified. For example, a container with jewels ended up in the water and also TVs, computers, white goods, lots of clothing, furniture, washing machines, toys and car parts. The latter group is the largest with almost a hundred containers.

It is striking that more than seven hundred containers that remained on the Zoe contained chemical substances. This concerns ten percent of the total load. Here too, the exact description is often missing. For example, hundreds of containers state chemical products, nos (not otherwise specified). It is unclear what is in this and whether this is dangerous.

The list of containers that fell overboard also contains substances that can be questioned. The content of three containers is described as ‘Epoxy Resin, plastic’. Two containers with ‘diplomatic cargo’ are also special. It’s a mystery what’s in there. They did not end up in the water.

The requested documents also show that there has been a fierce battle over disclosing the exact information about the contents of the containers. Maersk, for example, has kept the heels in the sand for a long time. This involved the containers from this company on the MSC Zoe. The main argument being that this is business information that, for competitive reasons, should not be shared with the outside world. One of the companies involved has also indicated that they have major objections to disclosure via the broadcasters, who have invoked the Open Government Act (Wob).

After much tug of war, further information was given to Rijkswaterstaat. That organization concludes that ultimately all information about the exact content of the containers was provided by all the companies involved. However, despite the request of the broadcasters, no further insight is given by Rijkswaterstaat with the argument that this is business information that does not fall under the Open Government Act.

The carriers involved with the MSC Zoe have provided information about the containers for the purpose of the salvage work. They have expressly stated that the information is provided in the confidence that it will not be shared with third parties. The result is that despite providing the global content of the containers to the broadcasters Omroep Fryslân and RTV Noord, many questions remain about the exact content of the containers.

The question is whether the House of Representatives of Parliament will settle for this. During an earlier hearing on the disaster, several parties already expressed their unmistakable discontent about the non-disclosure of the contents of the containers. Members think that is bizarre and call it “astonishing”, also “disgraceful and impossible.” The House of Representatives will debate the MSC Zoe disaster next Tuesday.

[Dutchie]

Yesterday evening there was a debate in the House of Representatives about this matter with the responsible minister. These were the main discussion points:

1. The government is requested to investigate the possibility that container ships are obliged to use the deep water, dangerous goods route and not the shallow water route. This is necessary as ships with a large draft are less likely to touch the sea bottom and the distance to the islands and other shore line is larger which reduces the risk of pollution.

2. Each container transported via this route should be chipped so that containers with dangerous cargo can be traced and recovered already in an early stage. The minister will look into the possibility of chipping.

3. The government should advance the payment to the salvage parties who are until now and that already for four and a half months, working for free, without any payment. The government should then claim the money from MSC.

As far as point 2 is concerned I think that this will be virtually undoable. This is only possible if all ships of every nationality that will sail on this route are chipped at any loading harbor and that are bound to sail this route, There are now over 20 million shipping containers in the world, and five or six million of them are currently shipping around the world on vessels, trucks, and trains. Maybe some clever politician can solve this dilemma.

An acoustic pinger is more complicated then a RFID chip and therefore much more costly. It should be tested all the time mainly for the battery. In order to save battery life it is necessary that the pinger starts beeping only once submerged in the water like an EPIRB.

[Hogsnort]

Have they ever established if MSC Zoe touched bottom?

[Dutchie]

No. Dead silence until now, so far nothing has been communicated about what the cause was of the loss of so many containers. Touching the sea bottom would probably cause hull damage. The ship didnot dock but maybe divers inspected the hull for damage. We will have to sit and wait.

[Dutchie]

It is new to me that MSC hired a Dutch salvage company to bring the lost containers and items ashore. They do this according to a Master Target List provided by Rijkswaterstaat that is based upon the objects found by survey ships in a area of 3000 km2. More information can be found in this Google translated webpage.

[Dutchie]

Researchers are convinced that part of the containers has been driven far away. ‘If the load is only a tiny bit heavier than water, it can take a long time before such a container ends up on the bottom. It roams around under water and can get far. Even in half a day you can be a few miles away.’

It is estimated that a small part of the containers will never be found again or only in years. If they end up in an area where the soil behaves very dynamically, there is a chance that they will be buried under the sand over time. That can happen very well, especially in the area of ​​the Wadden which is always in motion with, among other things, walking channels. If a heavy storm comes over it, the whole thing can be opened up and things can be released into the water again.

Until now 58 containers have so far not been located. An estimated total of about a third of the debris has not yet been found. Volunteers, local contractors and civil servants have so far collected almost as much MSC Zoe waste as the professional salvagers in the North Sea.

[Kraken]

I bet it will turn up on the Norwegian coast somewhere.

[Dutchie]

The victimized Wadden Islands want 225,000 euros, peanuts, in damages from MSC, the Swiss owner of the ship that lost 342 containers in the North Sea in early January. As a result, the coast of the islands became heavily polluted. Mayor Wassink, the Terschelling’s spokesperson, has confirmed the claim. The MSC shipping company promised to compensate the damage immediately after the accident, but so far no word or money has been received.

The islands Ameland and Schiermonnikoog had previously submitted a claim of 36,000 euros for costs incurred. That was rejected without giving any reasons by the insurer of shipping company MSC. After the containers were knocked overboard, an enormous amount of waste was washed up on the Wadden Islands and the Frisian and Groningen coasts. Around 2 million kilos were collected until the beginning of this month, although not all containers have yet been salvaged. Natuurmonumenten spoke of ‘an unprecedented catastrophe’.

Even if the shipping company would rely on its liability limitation, MSC would in any case be liable for almost € 90 million for the damage caused by the “MSC Zoe” incident. The liability limit of a ship depends on the size of the ship. A certain number of units is allocated per ton, expressed in Special Drawing Rights. The first 2,000 tonnes of a ship are the most heavily taxed and an ever-lower tax is charged for all subsequent tonnes. The Special Drawing Rights can be converted into an amount in euros and thus form the limit from which MSC could limit itself. It should noted that shortly after the incident MSC promised to pay for all costs made for the cleaning operation.

I would either seize a MSC container ship or forbid them to enter Dutch ports. We would loose tonnage, so be it, probably to Antwerp but they have to make extra costs to ship the containers from there to Rotterdam. I don’t think there customers are willing to pay for these extra costs.

[Steamer]

@Dutchie

I would either seize a MSC container ship or forbid them to enter Dutch ports.

Sounds like a good solution. However, doing that might increase the street price of cocaine in Holland.

[DamnYankee]

@Dutchie

I would either seize a MSC container ship or forbid them to enter Dutch ports. We would loose tonnage, so be it, probably to Antwerp

The route into Antwerp down the Schelde is mostly through Dutch waters is it not?

[Hogsnort]

Follow the money. Who is benefiting by not holding MSC to account?

[Lee_Shore]

Sociopaths who judge success in life by how much money and power they can accumulate regardless of the consequences and the patronizing investors who profit from their arrogance?

[Dutchie]

Sorry, not our business!

Good question but the Public Prosecuter is currently conducting criminal investigations into the container loss of the MSC Zoe so if all is well they will probably be held accountable.

With the criminal investigation into the “MSC Zoe”, the Dutch government may want to prevent MSC from invoking the liability limitation of the shipowner. If the shipping company invokes this, the Netherlands could pay for the clean-up costs.

[Dutchie]

The cleaning is mostly done by volunteers.

The entire North Sea coast will be cleaned again from 1 to 15 August. There are a total of 31 stages. Every stage is about 5 to 10 km long and as much waste as possible is removed from the beach. Especially the islands beaches will be targeted as a lot of waste from the MSC Zoe is still washing up almost every day.

Still no payment from MSC. We should dump the debris at the entrance of the posh MSC office in Switzerland, maybe that will help.

[Dutchie]

From the first part of a documentary which was shown this night on Dutch TV three new interesting facts were mentioned:

• The suspicion is that a number of the thousands and thousands of containers were not properly lashed. Lashing of thousands of containers on such a mega ship is a time consuming, tedious job and mistakes can be easily made.

• The VDR was found to be defective or switched off which is hindering the investigation. It could shed some light on the fact why it took the ship four hours before giving notice about the loss of the containers to a German coast station. The bulk of the containers were dropped just to the North of the Dutch islands.

• Divers told the research journalists that the hull was damaged “on a spot which impaired the safety of the ship.” That is then below the waterline. Earlier I wrote in one if my posts about my suspicion that the ship had hit the sea bottom, the route they took was unsuitable for such big ships. The water depth above Borkum and in the East bound lane is in some places not more than 20 m. With a beam of 60 m and a draft of 14 m a roll of only 11.5° is enough to touch the sea bottom.

The second part of the documentary will follow later this month, stay tuned.

[Dutchie]

Since the accident with the container ship MSC Zoe, shipping company MSC has opted for a different route to German ports, a news agency discovered. A shipping company spokesperson said they made the choice “despite the fact that we consider the southern route safe.”

Safe? I think that the accident offers enough proof that this route is unsafe for that kind of ships. What I don’t understand is why the Dutch government has not officially closed the southern route for mega ships.