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On November 30, 2020, The Ocean Network Express's ("ONE") Apus, a 14,000 TEU containership built-in 2019 measuring 364-meters in length and sailing under the Japanese flag, lost thousands of containers overboard in one of the worst container ship disasters. Where will the shipping containers end up as they move with the ocean's currents and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch Gyre?
According to Dr. Jan Hafner, Ph.D., a climate modeling specialist with the International Pacific Research Center from the University of Hawaii, the containers were dumped "in an area with prevailing currents from west to east. However, the wind's effect is a little tricky to estimate, as we do not know the windage of submerged containers very well. Generally, the winds are coming from the west sector but are quite variable in the winter season. Given all this, most containers may slowly move to the east along about 30 degrees north. As to the timing based on our experience with the Japanese tsunami, it may take a couple of months (4-6) for the containers to reach the general area of the garbage patch (30N, 140W)." Here is a photo from the disaster site: https://twitter.com/wonder_poat2140/status/1337744799017754627 The containers are drifting in the largest marine preserve in the world, which is USA waters. Just 350 miles south of the incident. Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Map: https://nmspapahanaumokuakea.blob.core.windows.net/papahanaumokuakea-prod/media/archive/new-images/pmnm-map-exp-1.jpg More information about this vital preserve can be found HERE: https://www.papahanaumokuakea.gov/welcome.html Here is a map showing the estimated location of the ship at the time of the incident, and the location of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Written by Janell C. Clark, OPDERA Photo credits to T E Janigan (S/B) @ wonder_poat2140 on Twitter 
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 The volume of plastic entering oceans can be hard to comprehend Roughly 8 billion kilograms of plastics enter the world’s waters every year. The problem is most acute in emerging coastal economies. The volume of plastic entering oceans can be hard to comprehend, admits Jenna Jambeck, an engineering professor at the University of Georgia who has published pathbreaking science that quantifies plastic “leakage” to the oceans.
On November 30, 2020, The Ocean Network Express’s (“ONE”) Apus, a 14,000 TEU containership built in 2019 measuring 364-meters in length and sailing under the Japanese flag, lost thousands of containers overboard in one of the worst container ship disasters. The container ship, ONE Apus, was en route from China to Long Beach, CA, when it hit bad weather, causing it to roll and lose approximately 1,861 containers 1600nm Northwest of Hawaii. These conditions, while severe, are no excuse for the incredible amount of waste ONE Apus has dropped into our oceans. Just one month before this disaster, a sister ship, ONE Aquila, spilled over one hundred containers on the same route to Long Beach. According to the World Shipping Council, from 2017-2019, 779 shipping containers are lost on average per year. In one month, ‘ONE’ (Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd.) container ships have lost at least 1,961 containers in the Pacific Ocean. According to a leading industry consultant, Paul Kamen, “Container tie-down is a mature technology these days, and there’s really no excuse for a failure.” He went on to say that the ships use acceleration prediction algorithms, and the tie-down plans are generated and checked by computers. The real question Paul Kamen and OPDERA want to ask NYK Shipmanagement, the owner/manager of both vessels, is: did they follow the recommended tie-down plan and use the correct hardware? Photos of the ship arriving in Japan suggest that they did not. Written by Janell C. Clark, OPDERA Photo credits to @nobuya0827 on Twitter.  WORST EVER CONTAINER DISASTER - ONE Apus Loses 1,861 Cargo Containers in the Pacific Ocean - One month after sister ship loses 100  |
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