The 1,600TEU boxship Baltic Tern has lost five containers at sea north of Ameland, The Netherlands, after experiencing difficulties due to heavy weather en route from the Port of St. Petersburg in Russia to the Port of Rotterdam.
Among the lost containers, there were two tank containers, one full of acetone, a low flash point chemical, and the other was carrying used cooking oil, according to Ron Corstanje, spokesman for the Dutch Coast Guard. Another lost container was carrying pellets, while there was, also a box with paper and an empty container.
[s2If is_user_logged_in()]Corstanje told Container News that one of the tank containers had been found, it is uncertain which of the two, and it has not been salvaged yet, while they will need a radar system in order to detect the remaining four boxes.
In addition, there are still two containers onboard the Baltic Tern that are at risk of falling overboard. However, the ship is reported to be close to the Port of Rotterdam. “The crew of the container ship is busy securing one of the two sliding containers on deck. The other container is still shaky,” said the Duch Coast Guard in an update.
More than two years earlier, the 19,200TEU container ship MSC Zoe suffered an accident north of Ameland, with the ultra large container vessel losing 342 containers during a heavy storm.
According to the Coast Guard’s initial statement, “the captain of the 162m Baltic Tern reported on Wednesday 7 April around a quarter to 11 (local time) that five containers were lost overboard. Two containers are still shaky. The ship sailed approximately 27.5km north of Ameland. The ship came from German waters.”
The towing vessel Multratug 29 is on its way to the position where the Coast Guard aircraft spotted two of the five containers lost by the Baltic Tern, said the Coast Guard on its Twitter account on 7 April. The Multratug 29 will monitor the position of the containers and, if necessary, warn shipping.
Container News has contacted X-Press Feeders, which operates the ship, but had not received any response at the time of publication.
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