Seatrade Maritime: Over 30 containers recovered in Port of Long Beach

Some 32 containers have been recovered from the water around the vessel Mississippi which lost around 75 boxes overboard last week.

The Port of Long Beach said on Sunday that work continued to on salvage and recovery operations of containers lost overboard from Zim-chartered the Mississippi while at berth in the port last week.

The port said that to date 32 containers had been recovered from the waters around the vessel.

The Mississippi was carrying 2,412 containers when boxes started to fall from it at 8:48 am on 9 September and reportedly lost around 75 containers overboard in collapses from two different bays on the vessel.

Some of the containers hit an emissions barge that was connected to the vessel causing a leak of fuel from the barge which was secured on 10 September. The port said no further leaks had been observed.

“In just a few days, we have made significant progress in securing the vessel cargo and recovering containers — all while maintaining the highest standards of safety for response workers and crew onboard the vessel,” said Capt. Stacey Crecy, Commander, US Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles – Long Beach.

A 500-yard safety zone remains in place around the container ship.

The incident occurred  a few hours after the Zim-chartered Mississippi berthed in the Port of Long Beach on 9 September following a voyage across the Pacific from Yantian in China. 

The cause of the stack collapses remains unknown although port worker union representatives have ruled out human error on the part of dockworkers.

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An investigation is being led by the USCG and the National Transportation Safety Board is underway to determine the cause of the incident.