The UK Coastguard has reported that Seatrade’s container ship Baltic Klipper lost sixteen containers overboard on Saturday 6 December in the Solent, a strait in the English Channel. No crew members were injured and the containers are carrying non-hazardous cargo.
The Coastguard is closely monitoring the situation and working with the relevant authorities, including the vessel’s owners, who are responsible for recovering the containers. Broadcasts are being sent to warn local shipping and the Selsey Coastguard Rescue Team is on patrol.
Eight of the containers were reported as carrying bananas, two as carrying plantain, one as carrying avocados, and the remaining five as empty.
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Five containers ashore
Five containers have come ashore around Selsey, West Sussex, where a cordon has been put in place. Coastguard rescue teams from Selsey and Littlehampton, West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and Sussex Police are all in attendance.
Other containers have been sighted adrift off the shoreline and an HM Coastguard helicopter and fixed wing aircraft have been carrying out searches.
The public are advised to avoid the area and not go near the containers. People are reminded that all wreck material found in the UK has to be reported to UK Coastguard’s Receiver of Wreck. West Sussex County Council has contracted response teams, who arrived this morning (8 December) to start clearing cargo that has come ashore.
UPDATE MONDAY 8 DECEMBER 4.30 PM:
To date, eleven of the sixteen containers lost have been washed ashore in areas of West Sussex. Seven containers have so far been located in Selsey, two at Pagham Harbour and two at Bognor. As part of the operational response, an HM Coastguard helicopter and fixed wing aircraft have been undertaking offshore searches in an attempt to locate the outstanding containers.
Baltic Klipper
Seatrade’s 14,091-GT reefer container ship Baltic Klipper was built in 2010 and sails under the flag of Liberia. It measures 165 metres in length and is 25 metres wide.
Picture: UK Coastguard rescue officers looking out to sea (picture by the UK (HM) Coastguard).
Also read: New system alerts crew when ship is at risk of losing containers
