How many containers lost at sea?
The World Shipping Council (WSC) recently published its ‘Containers Lost at Sea Report’, covering 2020-2021. Approximately 241 million cargo loads in containers were handled by international carriers last year.
The analysis shows that containers lost overboard represent less than one thousandth of 1% (0.001%). However, the past two years have seen a turn in the tide with the average number of containers lost at sea per year since the start of the survey increasing by 18% to 1,629 pieces.
While the winter of 2020-21 saw an unusually high number of weather-related incidents, and the average losses for the two-year period 2020-2021 were 3,113 compared to 779 in the previous period.
Because this unusually high number of incidents in the winter of 2020-21 caused concern, WSC will increase the frequency of its reports related to the matter. (sh)