The exact cause of the container accident in Long Beach is still unclear, but at least one important step has now been taken: all the containers from the “Mississippi” that fell into the water have been salvaged.
The Unified Command responsible for the incident at the important US West Coast hub has now confirmed that all 95 containers that fell overboard from the ship “Mississippi” at Pier G have been recovered in and around the port of Long Beach.
Initially, it was assumed that slightly fewer containers had fallen into the water when the stacks collapsed. As the port has now announced, the figures had to be revised upwards as some units were crushed, submerged or no longer visible in the nearby harbor basin. The salvage work has now been completed, however.
The latest salvage measures include:
- Use of side-scan sonars and remotely operated underwater vehicles to locate the sunken containers
- Deployment of diving teams to inspect the bottom of the Mississippi cargo ship and assist in the recovery of the containers around the ship
- Repositioning of the vessel by a tug, pilot boats and line handlers to gain access to the containers trapped under the bottom of the vessel
- Reduction of the safety zone from 500 to 100 m during the course of the work and hourly broadcasting of safety information to shipping to keep seafarers informed.
After the completion of the diving work on September 26, all restrictions on shipping traffic were lifted and the passage of ships in the vicinity of Pier G no longer requires permission from the port captain. During the salvage operations, a total of 142 ship transits were authorized to maintain operations in the busy port complex.
The Portuguese-flagged “Mississippi” (255 m long, 37 m wide) is owned by an Ocean Yield company and chartered by the Israeli shipping company Zim, with Wilhelmsen Ahrenkiel Ship Management as technical manager.
“This was an extremely rare event that required a complex and unique salvage operation,” said Michael Goldschmidt, Port of Long Beach operations manager for the response to the container spill at Pier G. “We are grateful to the Coast Guard, ship managers, salvage teams and highly skilled ILWU staff for facilitating a safe and quick return to normal operations.” One task remains, however: The U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board continue to lead the investigation into the cause of the accident, according to the official statement.
