AP Moller-Maersk is preparing to conduct a damage assessment of one of its boxships after arriving at a port of refuge following the loss of around 750 containers in a Pacific storm.
The 13,092-teu Maersk Essen (built 2010) finally arrived at Lazaro Cardenas, in Mexico, nine days after it hit the storm on 16 January.
The vessel is currently at anchorage, but Maersk said it will conduct a damage assessment of the vessel and cargo to determine exactly how many containers were lost or damaged.
The Maersk Essen was diverted from its scheduled call at the Port of Los Angeles because of severe congestion currently being experienced at the US west-coast container terminal.
The Los Angeles Times reported about 45 vessels are at anchorage awaiting a berth. The congestion has been made worse with hundreds of port workers reportedly absent due to a Covid-19 outbreak.
It appears the port could not cope with the extended time likely to be required to safely unload and inspect the vessel.
However, the near week-long diversion to Lazaro Cardenas is set to incur additional insurance claims for delay and possible damage to perishable goods and refrigerated cargoes.
Industry experts estimate cargo valued at more than $100m may have been lost overboard in the initial incident.
Because Lazaro Cardenas has been designated a port of refuge, it opens the possibility that the vessel's owner could seek to recover additional costs incurred from the diversion through a general average claim.
Insurance consultancy WK Webster said: “Given that the vessel has now diverted to a port of refuge, it is possible that shipowners may seek to declare general average in respect of permissible general-average expenses such as port of refuge, storage and on forwarding costs."
An investigation into the casualty is almost certain to look at similarities with the loss of the equivalent of more than 4,000-teu of containers from the Ocean Network Express 14,052-teu containership ONE Apus (built 2019), also in a Pacific storm, just two months earlier.
