The Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate will investigate why seven containers fell overboard last week from container vessel OOCL Rauma as it was sailing past the Dutch Wadden Islands. This was announced by the inspectorate. 

On Tuesday 11 February, five containers first fell overboard above the Wadden Islands and another two containers during the following night. The containers contained rolls of paper, packaging material and milk powder. So there were no dangerous goods involved.

The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) now wants to investigate, together with among others Port State Control, what exactly went wrong. In doing so, the investigators will for instance examine whether the cargo papers contain the correct information about the cargo, both in terms of quantity and type of cargo. They will also check whether the containers were secured correctly. It is still too early for the first results of the investigation, reports an ILT spokesperson.

Text continues below photos.

Salvage operation

The salvage operation already started last week. According to a spokesman for Rijkswaterstaat, ‘the first parts have been brought to the surface’. The government agency did not hire a salvage company itself. Shipping company OOCL and charterer of the OOCL Rauma had already done so and will therefore suffer the cost of the salvage operation. According to Dutch newspaper Leeuwarder Courant, the salvage companies involved are Noordgat and Friendship Offshore based on Terschelling.

Source photos: Dutch Coastguard

This article first appeared (in Dutch) on Nieuwsblad Transport, a sister publication of SWZ|Maritime.