Cargo Ship Loose 25 Containers Off The East Cost Of Florida

Dozens of cargo shipping containers that fell into the ocean off the coast of Florida Sunday came from a barge charted by the same company that operated the cargo ship El Faro, which was lost at sea during Hurricane Joaquin.

 

Containers Overboard off Florida

Multiple containers have fallen into the sea from a barge off the coast between Port Canaveral, Fla., and West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday. U.S. Coast Guard crews are responding





The U.S. flagged 136-foot Capt Latham was transiting to Puerto Rico as it tugged a 340-foot barge, Columbia Elizabeth, when crew aboard noticed several cargo containers hanging over the port side of the barge and believed more had fallen into the water while in transit, the Coast Guard said. The Capt Latham terminated its course toward Puerto Rico and diverted to Port of Palm Beach for further investigation.

A Coast Guard helicopter crew from Miami and a crew from the Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell responded to the report to assess the barge.

At approximately 3 p.m., the vessel moored safely in the Port of Palm Beach. It was then determined that up to 25 containers were unaccounted for with an undetermined amount of which fell overboard. Several of the containers were confirmed to be carrying batteries.

One of the containers washed ashore in Port Canaveral.

The Coast Guard is investigating the incident and plans to launch an aircraft to begin searching at sunrise.

 

Airplanes and a helicopter searched Florida's east coast Monday for dozens of missing cargo containers, while crews at the Port of Palm Beach sorted through hundreds left on a crowded barge. The effort was all to find out just what ended up in the water and whether it poses a threat.

The 340-foot Columbia Elizabeth was en route from Port Canaveral, Fla. to Puerto Rico on Sunday when the crew of its tug boat, the Capt. Latham, noticed several cargo containers hanging over the side, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

Port Canaveral is in Brevard County, on the Atlantic coast southeast of Orlando.

The barge was diverted to the Port of Palm Beach where it remained docked Monday. As many as 25 containers, some possibly containing batteries, fell into the ocean, according to the Coast Guard.

Just how many batteries ended up in the water, what kind of batteries they are and where they end up could determine whether they could be an environmental risk to the ocean waters and marine life off Florida's coast, officials said.



By Monday afternoon, the Coast Guard's aerial search had yet to find any of the containers.

And at the port, the unloading of the barge — which can hold more than 300 of the large containers — continued in order to reach the part of the deck where the containers slid into the ocean. Investigators are trying to find out why the cargo gave way and take inventory of what was lost, according to the Coast Guard.

"Some of them got crushed and some of them [went] over the side," Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss said.

TOTE Maritime, of Jacksonville, confirmed Monday that its charted barge, the Columbia Elizabeth, "experienced an issue on deck Sunday" that caused containers to become unsecured, according to company representative Michael Hanson.

TOTE made headlines in the fall when its cargo ship, El Faro, went missing Oct. 1 during Hurricane Joaquin with 33 people aboard.

A container that washed ashore near Port Canaveral Sunday was not from TOTE's chartered barge, according to the company.

Lost containers are a frequent casualty of ships crisscrossing the world's oceans.

Between 5 million and 6 million containers are in transit every day, and as many as 10,000 a year are estimated to end up in the water, according to a 2014 report prepared by scientists at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary for the U.S. Department of Commerce.

"The accumulation of these slow-to-decay structures year after year is a cause for concern," according to the report.

Battery acid, lead and other heavy metals from batteries are a pollution threat to Florida's reefs and other marine habitat, said Mark Perry, executive director of the Florida Oceanographic Society, based in Stuart. Coastal currents can even push the problem into estuaries, he said.

"If the containers contain hazardous materials like batteries ... then they definitely are a problem," Perry said. "That can be toxic to marine life."

Rough sea conditions as well as how thoroughly cargo is secured on deck are among the top reasons containers end up in the ocean, according to the Coast Guard. Failure to weigh containers when loading can also contribute to cargo going overboard, according to the 2014 federal report.

Shipping companies that lose their cargo can face fines and other penalties, but it is too early into the investigation into the cargo lost from the Columbia Elizabeth to determine if that would be warranted in this case, Doss said.

"It's not that uncommon for containers to fall overboard, especially if there's bad weather," Doss said.