Viral Video of OOCL Containership’s Wild Ride Resurfaces, Highlighting the Dangers of Parametric Rolling

An intense clip of an OOCL containership battling rough seas has resurfaced on social media, captivating viewers—and for good reason. This dramatic footage, filmed from a nearby vessel, captures the containership rolling perilously in moderate seas.

While it might look like a recent encounter, the video is actually over a decade old and is often cited as a textbook example of parametric rolling—a dangerous phenomenon that can cause ships to roll uncontrollably in head and following waves.

According to the uploader, the vessel pitches at angles reaching 45 degrees, with its draft fluctuating from approximately 10.2 to 13.8 meters in seconds. The ship, believed to be the MV OOCL Brisbane, was filmed in 2009 as it headed outbound from Geelong, Australia.

The footage reminds us of the risks that large containerships face at sea and offers a striking visual of why parametric rolling is a critical topic in maritime safety.

Here’s the original:

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