The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has raised large containership safety as an issue for the shipping industry in its latest annual report.
Last year, the MAIB produced reports on two major container collapse incidents in North Pacific storms involving the CMA CGM-controlled, 14,414-teu CMA CGM G Washington (built 2017) in January 2018 and Evergreen Marine Corp’s 7,024-teu Ever Smart (built 2005) in October 2017.
The incidents have been followed by four further similar incidents in the past year, the largest of which was a massive container collapse on the 14,052-teu ONE Apus (built 2019) involving the loss of more than 1,900 containers.
There has been a two-year gap between the accidents occurring and the MAIB investigation reports appearing in 2020.
Captain Andrew Moll, the chief inspector of marine accidents at the MAIB, said this type of accident is “challenging to investigate due to multiple inter-related factors”.
Moll mentioned the 20,388-teu Ever Given (built 2018) grounding in the Suez Canal on 23 March this year as another incident that raised safety issues over large containerships.
“There is no doubt that accidents involving ultra large container vessels will continue to receive intense focus, but it is too early to say what common themes might emerge from accident investigations and whether these could have wider implications for the sector,” he said.
The MAIB identified weather routing and parametric rolling as one of the causes of the container collapse from the CMA CGM G Washington. The agency also mentioned container storage standards and inaccurate declaration of container weight as contributory causes.
The MAIB issued four recommendations following its accident investigation, all of which have been taken up.
In total, 42 containers were lost from the Ever Smart in October 2017.
Bow slamming and hull vibration in heavy seas were identified as the main cause. Inadequate lashing rod locking arrangements were also found to have contributed to the accident. Evergreen Marine has taken on all three recommendations that came out of the MAIB's accident report.
In 2020, the MAIB was notified of 1,217 casualties and incidents. It opened investigations into 19 casualties, 10 of which involved loss of life.
