ONE lucky bird

 Contrary to yesterday's post the ultra sized container ship ONE Apus did not arrive last  night, but held off Halifax until mid-morning today August 4. That allowed two other ships to dock at the Southend container terminal, PSA Halifax. (This is the first time that I am aware of that there are three ships at the Atlantic Gateway terminal at the same time: Nolhan Ava on its weekly service to St-Pierre et Miquelon and Argentia, and the ZIM feeder Contship Leo also a weekly caller on the CFX Canada Feeder Express.)

ONE Apus, built in 2019 by Japan Marine United, Kure, is one of the thirteen strong "bird" class of 14,052 TEU ships. (Apus in the genus of bird that includes swifts). Tonnages are recorded at 146,694 gt, 138,611 dwt. 

The "lucky" in the header refers to the November 30, 2020 incident when the ship lost more than 1800 containers over side and incurred damage to more than 900 on deck. En route from China to Long Beach, the ship was 1600 miles northwest of Hawaii at the time, but was able to put back to Kobe to be unloaded. It was March 2021 before the ship re-entered service, and made its call in Long Beach April 12, 2021.

An average of about 1300 containers are lost overboard world wide every year, so the 1800 figure is likely still a record for a single ship. The photo of the ship in the e-mag gCaptain is a truly remarkable one:

See: https://gcaptain.com/its-been-one-year-since-one-apus-epic-cargo-loss/

It appears from the photo that the ship may have been loaded to as much as eight containers high, at least for part of its length. It was loaded to a more modest maximum of six boxes high on arrival in Halifax today.

 Excessive rolling (parametric roll resonance), induced by the Pacific ocean swells is usually cited as a primary factor in these dramatic losses. However boxes are lost overboard world wide including the North Atlantic. Fortunately it has been many years since a container ship has arrived in Halifax with significant damage to deck cargo.

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