ONE Apus – Container stack collapse – Update – 8th Jan 2021

The latest update on the ONE Apus maritime disaster is that the discharging operations of the remaining containers has recommenced as of the 5th of January 2021 and since the first day of container discharging at Kobe, a total of 212 boxes have been safely discharged as of the 7th January 2021..

The discharge operations for the safe removal of the remaining containers on deck started on the 11th of December after permission to proceed was granted by the Japanese Coast Guard..

As per ONE, container inspection and survey work is carrying on and transloading of the discharged damaged containers have commenced and are ongoing..

ONE has also advised that customers can expect to be contacted individually for appropriate cargo arrangement where necessary, once more cargo information is available..

The careful removal of the dislodged units under a schedule formulated by stowage planners is expected to take over a month with safety the number one priority..

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The fact that only 212 containers have been offloaded since the 11th of December should bear testimony to the jumble of containers on board and how difficult the operations would be to offload each container with zero to minimum damage to the container, cargo and ship and also bearing in mind human safety..

Once all containers have been unloaded, each will be assessed, and when the discharge of cargo is complete, there will be a full assessment of damage to the vessel and subsequent repairs.. A thorough investigation is being conducted into this incident in conjunction with the Flag State (in this case Japan) and the relevant maritime authorities..

The ship remains safely berthed at the Port of Kobe after it encountered severe weather on Monday, November 30, 2020 leading to a container stack collapse of around 1,816 containers including 64 hazardous containers..

Stay tuned for more updates on the ONE Apus incident.. You can read all the updates thus far, here..

In the meantime you can read up more on containers falling off ships, who is responsible and the importance of proper lashing of containers on board..

If you need further info about container stowage itself, you can read up on the basics of container stowage planning and why it is important..