The Coast Guard issued a warning of “navigation hazards” after at least 70 containers tumbled from the Maersk Shanghai off the North Carolina coast during a nor’easter with gusts approaching hurricane-strength levels. The ship was about 17 miles off Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina at the time, heading for Charleston, South Carolina.
After the storm hit, the Maersk Shanghai called the Coast Guard saying that 70 to 73 containers had been lost. The 1,063-feet-long, 10,081-ton ship was built in 2016 and flagged in Liberia.
The World Shipping Council, which measures these matters, says an average of 1,390 containers are lost at sea each year. It takes only one, of course, to sink or cause serious damage to a recreational boat. For more:
