APL England containers lost at sea – Update 30th May
As reported, the APL England, a 5,780 TEU capacity containership lost around 40 containers off the coast of New South Wales in Australia with around 74 containers lying in a collapsed state within the stacks on board the ship..
Although inspections are continuing, preliminary investigations have found that the lashing arrangement for the cargo was inadequate and that some of the securing points for containers on deck were heavily corroded..
These findings are clearly in breach of the requirements of SOLAS (The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Seas) and as a consequence, the ship has been detained in the Port of Brisbane by AMSA and it is understood that this detention will be lifted only after these serious deficiencies have been fixed by the ship’s owner APL and the vessel operator..
In the meantime, charges have been laid against the Master (Captain) of the APL England relating to pollution and/or damage of the Australian marine environment due to this incident..
