Recently, ONE Apus, a container ship with the capacity of 14,052 TEUs, build by Japanese shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) in 2019, encountered severe weather conditions when sailing across the North Pacific. As a result, the container stacks collapsed and approximately 1,900 containers were lost or damaged, marking the largest accident of its kind in history, and the largest accident resulting in the highest loss of containers in recent years.
According to the latest public statement issued by ONE, the number of containers that have been confirmed as lost is 1,816. The number of lost containers that contain dangerous cargos has increased to 64 from the previously estimated 40. So far, the U.S. Coast Guard has not found any containers, nor is it clear what dangerous cargos they contain.
1,816 is the number of lost containers, which means it does not include damaged containers. Based on images of the ship circulating on social media, the damage of the containers may also be severe, which will further increase the total cost of the accident.
The value of containers varies greatly, but according to industry insiders’ analysis, the total loss may be as high as 250 million US dollars based on the average value of about 135,000 US dollars per container. Some insurers believe that, given that a considerable part of the cargo is not insured, the actual cargo claim may be close to 50 million US dollars.
Source: Xinde Maritime