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Maersk Shanghai loses containers

Maersk Shanghai Heads to Bahamas for Salvage of Collapsed Containers

GCaptain
Total Views: 85
March 9, 2018

MV Maersk Shanghai. Photo: MarineTraffic.com / Marcin Kocoj

Customers with cargo aboard the MV Maersk Shanghai will have to wait until next week for word on when they may receive their shipments after a stack of about 70 containers loaded aboard the vessel collapsed during severe weather off the U.S. East Coast last Saturday night.

Following inspections earlier this week off Charleston, South Carolina, the Maersk Shanghai skipped its scheduled port calls in Charleston and Savannah, Georgia to sail to Freeport, Bahamas, where imported containers were due to be discharged and salvage of the collapsed containers would take place.

However, the latest update from Maersk Line, issued on Friday, said that there will be no containers discharged from the vessel prior to the start of salvage operations, which are scheduled to begin Wednesday at the earliest.

As gCaptain reported earlier this week, the 324-meter Maersk Shanghai was underway from Norfolk, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina when the crew reported between 70 to 73 containers had collapsed due to high winds and heavy seas off the coast of North Carolina. An unspecified number of containers were lost overboard in the incident.

Afterwards, the Maersk Shanghai continued to Charleston where it was anchored off the coast.

As of Friday, the vessel was moored in Freeport. 

A statement from Maersk earlier this week said that once repairs are completed in the Bahamas, the vessel would transit to Miami, Florida to conduct full cargo operations, followed by Newark, New Jersey to load exports. It was unclear on Friday if that plan would change.

“Due to the complexity of these operations, we are not yet able to provide the expected duration. We remain committed to finding the best possible solution for all cargo on board the vessel and we will continue to keep you informed as the situation develops,” Maersk said in its update on Friday.

Maersk Shanghai is a 10,081 TEU containership built in 2016 and currently sailing on Maersk Line’s TP11 service. The vessel is flagged in Liberia.

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