The initial estimations about the number of lost containers in the ZIM Kingston accident were unfortunately wrong with the overall number of missing boxes being now up to 109, while it may change again as more information comes in.
With the fire under control, ZIM Kingston’s crew were able to safely access the container bays on the ship and calculate the number of missing boxes.
There is no change, however, in the number of missing containers with hazardous goods at the time of writing; Crew members believe that two boxes, including hazardous goods, have been lost at sea.
“The location is remote and rugged, and planning for recovery operations is underway,” said Canadian Coast Guard, which seems to have located four missing containers on shore near Cape Scott. “The containers have now been identified, referenced against the ship manifest, and do not contain hazardous chemicals,” they wrote in a Twitter post.
#CCGLive: we located four #ZimKingston containers on shore near Cape Scott today. The containers have now been identified, referenced against the ship manifest, and do not contain hazardous chemicals. pic.twitter.com/b6h2FsfaLE
— Canadian Coast Guard (@CoastGuardCAN) October 27, 2021
Mariners, aircraft and members of the public in the area are asked to report any sightings of containers to 1-800-889-8852 immediately and reminded to avoid opening or moving containers as two of the 109 containers contain hazardous chemicals.
Unified Command expects that some of the containers have sunk and the Environmental Unit will assess for potential impacts.
Stormy weather yesterday (27 October) made the investigations more difficult. Danaos Shipping, the owner of ZIM Kingston, is working with Incident Command to find and recover the containers, but “ongoing stormy weather and large swells continue to complicate their recovery,” said the coast guard.
Once the ship is secured, inspectors will inspect the vessel and then direct it to a port (not determined yet) for unloading and any further inspections. There may be changes to this process depending on the results of each step.
