Thousands of shipping containers have been lost at sea. What happens if they burst?

Accidents often result from cargo that was incorrectly labeled, weighed or stored. For example, investigators concluded that the devastating X-Press Pearl oil spill near Sri Lanka was due to a fire that likely started from a poorly stacked container leaking nitric acid.

However, cargo ship operators do not have the capacity to verify all container weights and contents and must instead rely on information provided by shippers.

“It’s just completely impractical to think that you can open every container,” said Ian Lennard, president of the National Cargo Bureau, a nonprofit that works with the U.S. Coast Guard to inspect ocean cargo.

In a pilot study, the group found that widespread mislabeling and improper stowage caused nearly 70% of shipping containers arriving in the U.S. with dangerous goods to fail the agency’s safety inspection.

“Despite all of these problems, for the most part it arrives safely,” Lennard said.

But when a crisis occurs—a ship encounters inclement weather or a container containing a chemical catches fire in the summer heat—accidents can have catastrophic consequences.

How often do shipping container spills occur? There is no clear answer.

Existing tracking efforts are fragmented and incomplete. Although some shipping accidents and disasters make headlines, such as the collision of a cargo ship with a bridge in Baltimore in March, much less is known about how often containers are lost piece by piece or away from major ports.

The most frequently cited figures on lost shipping containers to date come from the World Shipping Council. Members of the group, which handles about 90% of the world’s container traffic, self-report their losses in a survey every year.

Over 16 years of data collected through 2023, the group said an average of 1,480 containers were lost annually. According to their latest figures, 650 containers were lost in 2022, compared to only around 200 last year.

Elisabeth Braw, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, said self-reported surveys miss the full picture.

For example, the 2023 balance sheet did not include 1,300 containers from the cargo ship Angel, which sank near the Taiwanese port of Kaohsiung. This is because the ship operators are not members of the World Shipping Council.

Lloyd’s List Intelligence, a maritime intelligence firm that has tracked thousands of maritime accidents on container ships over the past decade, told AP that underreporting was widespread and said ship operators and owners wanted to avoid increases in insurance premiums and protect their reputations.

Transportation insurers, who typically have to pay for breakdowns, likely have access to more comprehensive claims data – but there is no law requiring the collection and public sharing of data.

Joe Kramek, president and CEO of the World Shipping Council, said the industry is researching ways to reduce errors when loading and stacking containers and navigating ships through turbulent waters.

“We don’t like it when something like this (a container loss) happens,” Kramek said. “But the maritime environment is one of the most challenging environments to operate in.”

Earlier this year, the United Nations International Maritime Organization approved changes to two global ocean treaties aimed at increasing transparency around lost shipping containers. These changes, expected to come into force in 2026, will require ships to report losses to nearby coastal countries and to the authorities with which the ship is registered.

However, since there are no enforceable penalties, it remains to be seen to what extent operators will comply.

Alfredo Parroquín-Ohlson, head of the cargo section of the IMO Maritime Safety Division, said: “We just encourage them and tell them how important it is, but we cannot be police.”

It’s not just environmentalists who are worried. Some lost containers float for days before sinking – endangering boats of all sizes, from commercial vessels to recreational sailors.

The sports association World Sailing has reported at least eight cases in which crews had to abandon their boats due to collisions with suspected containers. In 2016, sailor Thomas Ruyant was sailing around the world 42 days into a regatta when the hull of his sailboat ruptured in a sudden collision with what appeared to be a floating container.

“I shudder just thinking about it,” he said in a video message from his damaged boat as he headed toward shore.

In Sri Lanka, the consequences of the X-Press Pearl accident are still being felt three years after the ship sank.

Fishermen have seen populations of important species decline and populations of long-lived, slow-reproducing animals like sea turtles potentially taking several generations to recover.

For his part, Lewis, the volunteer beach cleaner in Washington state, said he marvels at all the debris he doesn’t see washed up on its shores.

“What happens if it goes deep and it just tears?” he said. “We know we have a problem on the surface, but I think the bigger problem is on the seabed.”

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Larson and Wieffering reported from Washington, D.C. Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed reporting from Colombo, Sri Lanka.

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This story was supported by funding from the Walton Family Foundation and the Science and Educational Media Group of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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