Containers Lost at Sea

The Maersk Essen incident is the latest of at least four significant container loss incidents to take place in the trans-Pacific trade since early November, highlighted by the loss of nearly 2,000 containers from the ONE Apus on November 30. As a result, the incidents have prompted calls for carriers to urgently review  container lashing practices and stack height restrictions.

According to the World Shipping Council, an average of 1,382 containers have been lost at sea each year since 2008, however the actual number each year can be vary greatly because of major incidents where a large number of containers are lost in a single event – like the One Apus, El Faro (2015), MOL Comfort (2013), Rena (2011), etc.

WSC’s latest survey of containers lost at sea, issued in 2020, showed that the number of containers lost each year was actually trending down, mainly because of fewer major incidents during the latest survey period (2017-2019).