Jul.1--New numbers released by the World Shipping Council suggest that, on average, more than 1,500 containers have been lost at sea each year since 2008.
The WSC updated its survey of lost containers today, the first time numbers have been reported since 2011. The averages, not including catastrophic events in which a ship lost more than 50 containers at one time, showed the industry loses about 564 containers each year overboard. With catastrophic events factored into the equation, the average since 2008 jumps to 1,679 containers per year.
“The data demonstrates that container losses in any particular year can vary quite substantially based on differences in weather and based on the extent to which there may be one or more catastrophic vessel losses,” the WSC said.
The new numbers come after members of the WSC — which represent 86 percent of the container capacity in the world — provided data regarding losses in 2011, 2012 and 2013.
That data during the most recent three years suggests that the industry lost an average of 733 containers per year at sea during that time, not including catastrophic events. When catastrophic events were factored in, the industry lost an average of 2,683 containers per year.
In 2013, the WSC said a total of 120 million 20-foot containers were transported around the world, with cargo valued at $4 trillion.
This is the second such survey conducted by the WSC. The group surveyed shippers in 2011 and asked them to report numbers for 2008, 2009 and 2010 at that time, and the carriers responding represented 70 percent of the worldwide containerized shipping market.
The 2011 survey showed that, not including catastrophic events, the industry lost about 350 containers at sea each year. When catastrophic events were added in, that per-year average went up to 675 per containers.
The WSC said that two major industry events contributed to the higher numbers: the complete loss of the MOL Comfort in the Indian Ocean, amounting to 4,293 containers, and the grounding of the M/V Rena off of New Zealand, which lost about 900 containers.
The WSC said that it believes that proper packing and securing of containers is very important to industry safety, but also noted that anything from rough seas to vessel issues and structural failures can cause a container to be lost at sea.
The number is an average of all of the WSC members’ reports, which is then applied to the rest of the containerized cargo market to provide an industry-wide estimated number of containers lost at sea. The WSC said it rounds up, so the numbers may be higher than reality.