A container ship lost 23 containers in water and 10 containers were damaged!Just because of a small
- Author:weiyun.com
- Source:weiyun.com
- Release Date:2025-02-27
Recently, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) disclosed a maritime accident. A simple data entry error caused a US-flagged container ship, President Eisenhower, to fall into the water and lose 23 containers near the California coast, and another 10 containers were damaged.
The accident occurred on February 6, 2024, when the ship was drifting about 94 miles south of Oakland, California, waiting for berth allocation.The total value of cargo loss and ship damage is over US$735,000 (about RMB 5.44 million).
The President Eisenhower is a container ship built in 2005 and operated by APL at the time, operating on conventional routes between Southeast Asia and the West Coast of the United States.Although no obvious problems were found during the voyage during regular inspections, the situation quickly deteriorated as the ship waited for entry to start drifting.
At about 21:35, the crew noticed that there seemed to be smoke on the port side of the ship.The investigation showed that this was actually the powder of the collapsed container in the air, and multiple containers were missing from the cabin No. 42.
According to NTSB's investigation, the root cause is that the cargo weight data entered during the booking process is incorrect, and the VGM of these containers is seriously underreported.A booking agent manually inputted 2500 kg (5511 lbs) of the wrong weight for 39 containers, which was much lower than their actual weight.According to bills of lading provided by the shipper, the reported (actual) load weight of 39 containers ranges from 24.5 to 28.6 metric tons.
"The cargo loading plan includes inaccurate VGM, causing container stacking weight to exceed the maximum weight limit," the NTSB report states.
This error causes containers to be stacked in a dangerous "reverse stratification" manner, i.e., heavier containers are placed on top of lighter containers, resulting in an unstable high center of gravity.This configuration, coupled with the ship's 18-degree rolling motion in severe weather conditions, ultimately leads to failure of the cargo fixture equipment.
"If you know, the ship wouldn't be sailing in this configuration," the operating company said. In response to the incident, the booking agent has implemented new security measures, including automatically getting VGM from the original booking when changes are made, to prevent this type of input error from happening again.
I would like to remind you that you must declare VGM truthfully to ensure that the containers are successfully collected and shipped.People, ships, and goods need everyone's joint protection.Forwarding Zhou Zhi~
The accident occurred on February 6, 2024, when the ship was drifting about 94 miles south of Oakland, California, waiting for berth allocation.The total value of cargo loss and ship damage is over US$735,000 (about RMB 5.44 million).
The President Eisenhower is a container ship built in 2005 and operated by APL at the time, operating on conventional routes between Southeast Asia and the West Coast of the United States.Although no obvious problems were found during the voyage during regular inspections, the situation quickly deteriorated as the ship waited for entry to start drifting.
At about 21:35, the crew noticed that there seemed to be smoke on the port side of the ship.The investigation showed that this was actually the powder of the collapsed container in the air, and multiple containers were missing from the cabin No. 42.
According to NTSB's investigation, the root cause is that the cargo weight data entered during the booking process is incorrect, and the VGM of these containers is seriously underreported.A booking agent manually inputted 2500 kg (5511 lbs) of the wrong weight for 39 containers, which was much lower than their actual weight.According to bills of lading provided by the shipper, the reported (actual) load weight of 39 containers ranges from 24.5 to 28.6 metric tons.
"The cargo loading plan includes inaccurate VGM, causing container stacking weight to exceed the maximum weight limit," the NTSB report states.
This error causes containers to be stacked in a dangerous "reverse stratification" manner, i.e., heavier containers are placed on top of lighter containers, resulting in an unstable high center of gravity.This configuration, coupled with the ship's 18-degree rolling motion in severe weather conditions, ultimately leads to failure of the cargo fixture equipment.
"If you know, the ship wouldn't be sailing in this configuration," the operating company said. In response to the incident, the booking agent has implemented new security measures, including automatically getting VGM from the original booking when changes are made, to prevent this type of input error from happening again.
I would like to remind you that you must declare VGM truthfully to ensure that the containers are successfully collected and shipped.People, ships, and goods need everyone's joint protection.Forwarding Zhou Zhi~