Bad Day on the Bay of Biscay — Svendborg Maersk Looses 200-300 Containers

Posted on by February 18, 2014

Svendborg_MaerskMaersk Lines is reporting that the 7,200 TEU container ship Svendborg Maersk lost a “significant number of containers over board” on Friday while crossing the Bay of Biscay.   Lloyds List is reporting that 200-300 containers were lost in heavy weather while noting that the “full tally could be higher.”  The wind was reported to be blowing at 60 knots and waves were 10 meters high at the time of the loss.  Maersk say that “Other containers onboard are damaged as a result of collapsed stacks.”  The crew is reported to be safe and accounted for.  The 1998-built ship was said to have rolled 40 degrees in the severe weather.   The incident is believed to be the biggest container loss in a single incident ever suffered by Maersk Line. The Svendborg Maersk docked in port of Malaga on February 17, for container re-stowage and repairs to the ship.

Comments

Bad Day on the Bay of Biscay — Svendborg Maersk Looses 200-300 Containers — 5 Comments

  1. The problem is that the containerships don´t slack off, or heave by during storm or heavy swell.
    I crossed the Bay of Biscay several times in foul weather, and as the waves and swell normally comes in from Southwest or West, ships start to roll because of South-bound or North-bound routes. A ship like this could easily withstand these conditions, but has to alter course to take waves head-on, and slack-off to reduce possible damage to ship and cargo.

  2. You are right. Even the big ships should respect the Bay of Biscay. The obvious problem with container ships is that if boarding water takes out the bottom tier of containers the three, four or five boxes stacked on top are sure to go over the side just due to gravity.

    Many years ago at US Lines we had a container ship that crossed the Bay of Biscay and took the wave head on. Her fo’c’s’le head was stove in but, if memory serves she didn’t lose any boxes. (We later learn that there was a design flaw in fo’c’s’le structure. It met class rules but the main beam failed before the deck plate.)