THE Panama-flagged container ship Marcos V has reportedly lost 26 empty 40-foot containers around the Dutch Wadden islands on 18 February, while en route to Germany in heavy winds.
The Dutch Coast Guard is working with the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) and the safety region of Fryslân with regard to further handling of the incident.
Rijkswaterstaat holds the ship manager liable for the incident, while the security region has initiated an active search for containers on the Wadden Islands.
The Dutch Coast Guard’s emergency tug Guardian was already at sea due to the strong wind and was immediately deployed to search for floating containers. The Coast Guard plane was alerted to conduct an aerial search. To date, no containers have been found.
At the time of the incident there was a wind force of 9-10bft and the waves were around 8 metres high.
Marcos V was acquired late last year by Euroseas Ltd, which employs its vessels on spot and period charters and through pool arrangements.
The area where the boxes fell overboard suffered a far bigger incident three years ago when between 270-343 containers fell over the side of the giant MSC Zoe.
Following the incident, container ships longer than 200 metres are now advised by the Coast Guard to take the more northerly route in case of bad weather in order to reduce the risk of container loss.
In Rotterdam, where the Marcos V was heading, Storm Eunice also caused some damage. Several containers were videoed tumbling down at the port on 18 February.
