Once again, a ship has lost containers in the North Sea. This has been reported by Rijkswaterstaat and the Netherlands Coast Guard. According to unconfirmed reports, it concerns the Munich Maersk, which sailed in German territory, some 100 miles north of Schiermonnikoog. Various media state more than 200 containers have ended up in the sea.
The containers may have been lost in the German Bight, the southeastern part of the North Sea that borders the Dutch and German Wadden Islands. Dutch news channel Omroep Friesland reported on Tuesday evening, 8 December, that a ship in the North Sea had lost more than 200 containers. According to reports by a skipper, containers were floating in the water and containers were also lying on the seabed.
The Coast Guard announced Wednesday morning that they were in contact with Rijkswaterstaat (the executive agency of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) and German colleagues. ‘We do not have more details yet and await further information. The locations reported are in German waters and any follow-up actions/investigations are therefore in the hands of the German colleagues. We are of course following the developments in this respect and will, if necessary, share new information here.’
The 19,630 TEU container ship is currently sailing in the Kattegat between Denmark and Norway.
MSC Zoe
At the beginning of 2019, the MSC Zoe lost a total of 342 containers in heavy weather on the southern shipping route along the Wadden Islands. The beaches of several Wadden Islands are still littered with material from the containers. At the end of October, experts in the House of Representatives warned that a disaster such as that involving the almost 400-metre-long MSC Zoe could happen again at any time.
Source (in part): ANP
Picture by the Netherlands Coast Guard (other incident).
