APL England container loss

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has today released APL England to allow the ship to sail from Australia to undertake repairs in China. 

AMSA understand the ship will leave the Port of Brisbane this evening without cargo and with a new Master.

AMSA inspectors attended APL England today and were satisfied that the ship was fit to sail to China to undertake repairs.

The ship’s previous Master who is facing multiple charges relating to the incident, will leave the ship and be repatriated home.

Prior to allowing the ship to sail, AMSA received a formal written undertaking from the ship’s insurer, Steamship Mutual, that it will pay fines and other amounts that are agreed or imposed by a court in relation to AMSA’s costs in responding to the incident. This commitment is for an amount up to $22.5 million. 

AMSA welcomes advice from the owners and insurer that they are in the early stages of tendering for a sonar search of about 1000km2 of water from the Illawarra to Sydney’s southern suburbs where it is believed multiple containers may have sunk, as per the Direction issued by AMSA. 

Photos of the APL England empty of containers

From the bridge you can see the APL England with no containers

Up high you can see right across the deck of the APL England with no containers

From the dock looking up you can see the side of the APL England with no containers at the top

AMSA has issued a direction ordering the owner of APL England to search for missing containers that were lost from their vessel off New South Wales last month.

The direction also orders the owners to recover containers as agreed with AMSA.

AMSA has identified a priority search area of about 1000km2 stretching between the Illawarra and Sydney’s southern suburbs. Drift modelling and analysis of container sightings following the incident indicates that missing containers could be in this area at water depth of up to 200m. Containers within the search area pose the most immediate environmental threat and may present a safety hazard for commercial fishers.

AMSA General Manager Response Mark Morrow said 15 containers had been recovered from the shoreline or towed in after being spotted floating off the coast, but 35 containers were still missing. 

“The owner’s and operator’s responsibility to clean-up the mess left behind by their ship does not end at the water’s edge,” Mr Morrow said. 

“We have only just finished cleaning-up more than 60 containers and their contents from the seafloor off Newcastle after Yang Ming’s ship YM Efficiency lost containers back in June 2018. 

“That is not a pollution legacy that any respectable ship owner or operator would want to leave behind in their wake.” 

Mr Morrow said AMSA expected the owner and operator to respond to the direction with a detailed search plan in the coming days. 

“Failure to comply with this direction constitutes an offence under Australian law,” Mr Morrow said.

The Master of the APL England appeared before the Wynnum Magistrates court today to face two charges relating to the loss of containers from the ship:

1. Section 26F of the Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Act 1983 – Discharging of garbage into the sea contrary to the Act
2. Section 141 of the Navigation Act 2012 – Master did not ensure that the vessel was operated in a manner that did not cause
   1. pollution to the marine environment in the coastal sea of Australia or the exclusive economic zone of Australia and
   2. damage to the marine environment in the coastal sea of Australia or the exclusive economic zone of Australia

These charges carry maximum penalties in excess of $300,000. The matter was adjourned to 12 June in the Brisbane Magistrates Court.

The APL England remains under detention in the Port of Brisbane and will not be released until its serious deficiencies have been rectified.

The unloading of the damaged containers has started and is expected to take several days to complete.

AMSA’s investigation is ongoing.

Charges have been laid against the master of the APL England, which lost about 50 containers overboard off Sydney on Sunday. This is the result of work between AMSA, the Queensland Police and the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution.

The offences relate to pollution and/or damage of the Australian marine environment as a result of poor cargo loading. Laying charges against the ship’s Master is not action we undertake lightly but this and other incidents remind us of the important role the ship’s Master has in ensuring the ships that ply our waters are operated safely and do not damage our marine environment.

Today’s actions should not detract from the responsibility of the ship owner APL Singapore, insurer Steamship Mutual, and operator ANL who remain accountable for remediation of any impacts of this incident.

We welcome ANL taking responsibility by engaging contractors to undertake shoreline clean-up and retrieve some of the floating containers this week, but the impacts of this incident could take months, if not years to remediate and we expect these efforts to be sustained for however long it takes.

The ship remains under detention in the Port of Brisbane and will not be released until its serious deficiencies have been rectified.

As of today, AMSA has placed an additional requirement on the owner of the ship under the Protection of the Seas Act which must be met before the ship will be released from detention.

This action seeks financial security from the insurers in the order of $22 million. This provides a commitment that they will remediate all impacts of this incident. That $22 million covers estimated costs including that of a clean-up.

AMSA’s investigation is ongoing.

Read AMSA’s latest statement from 29 May (Update 5)

The below table represents the make up of the containers believed to be lost from the APL England as of 29/05/2020. The number of containers believed to be lost and their contents is likely to change over the coming days and weeks as the damaged containers on the ship are assessed.

Inspections 

Inspections of the ship has found inadequate lashing arrangements for cargo and heavily corroded securing points for containers on the deck.

These inspection findings are a clear breach of requirements under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS).

The APL England is currently being detained in the Port of Brisbane and the detention will not be lifted until these serious deficiencies are fixed. This is a now matter for the ship’s owner, American President Lines (APL), and the operator to rectify.

Investigations

All findings will form part of AMSA’s ongoing investigation and, while not to pre-empt the outcomes of the investigation, it is clear that the risk of container loss could have been reduced.

Actions 

AMSA expects the ship owner and its insurer to take full responsibility for addressing any impacts of this incident.

We have heard today the insurer is already engaging contractors to retrieve some of the floating containers. 

AMSA’s Challenger jet continued its search last night with an aerial survey of the New South Wales coastline to assist in locating and identifying semi-submerged containers in the water. The search identified two targets which we now know are five containers, including one set of four containers locked together. 

Container from APL England

AMSA surveyors conducted an inspection of the ship at the Port of Brisbane anchorage (off Port Cartwright) on Tuesday, 26 May to establish the structural and operational condition of the ship.  

The ship was found to be fit to be brought safely into the Port of Brisbane earlier today by Maritime Safety Queensland and the Brisbane Harbour Master.  

The vessel was escorted into Moreton bay by two harbour tugs, one container salvage response vessel, two Queensland water police vessels and a Maritime Safety Queensland pollution response vessel. It arrived safely in port at midday.  

AMSA is investigating the ship on two fronts

Compliance with safety standards 

This is a foreign-flagged ship in Australian waters so it will be checked for compliance with both Australian and international maritime safety standards.

An outcome of this inspection will be available in a matter of days which will include any breaches of those safety standards and any measures the ship will need to take to rectify those deficiencies. 

Australian environmental protection regulations and or standards

Establish if the ship has breached any Australian environmental protection regulations and or standards that apply to the safe and secure carriage of cargo. 

The first phase of that investigation is expected to take at least a month and may take longer. 

Subject to the outcome, legal action could be taken by AMSA against various parties including the ship's owner and others.

Drift modelling

We are continuing to provide drift modelling and working with NSW Maritime—the lead agency responding to shoreline impacts of the container spill. 

AMSA boarded the Singapore-flagged container ship APL England at the Port of Brisbane anchorage (off Port Cartwright) this morning following an incident involving the loss of about 40 containers overboard during heavy seas off Sydney on Sunday. 

Our team of surveyors conducted a seaworthiness inspection to establish the structural and operational condition of the ship following the collapse of container stacks on the deck. 

The outcome of this inspection will help inform if, and how, the ship might be brought safely into the Port of Brisbane in conjunction with Maritime Safety Queensland. 

While it is still unclear exactly which containers have fallen overboard, initial indications are that the affected stacks contained a wide range of goods like household appliances, building materials and medical supplies. 

No dangerous goods appear to be in cargo in the affected areas and we are working closely with the ship’s cargo agent to confirm exactly which containers went overboard. 

We expect to have the outcome of today’s seaworthiness inspection and confirmation of the next steps by tomorrow morning. 

Once the ship is safely in port we will begin our investigation which will focus on the safety of the ship including whether cargo was appropriately stacked and secured on board the ship, and any potential breaches of environmental pollution regulations. 

We have received a report of some medical supplies (for example, face masks) washing up between Magenta Beach and The Entrance. This information has been passed on to NSW Maritime. These correlate to drift modelling of debris and are consistent with items listed on the ship’s cargo manifest. 

Under the National Plan for Maritime Environmental Emergencies, the NSW Government has lead response for shoreline clean-up. AMSA will support NSW in their response. Modelling suggests that debris such as this could continue to wash-up over the coming days.

Containers askew on board the APL England

The incident with the APL England happened just after 6.10am AEST on Sunday 24 May when the ship experienced a temporary loss of propulsion during heavy seas about 73 km south east of Sydney.  

At the time, the ship was on a journey from Ningbo, China to Melbourne, Australia. 

The ship’s power was restored within a few minutes but during this time the ship reported that it was rolling heavily, causing container stacks to collapse and 40 containers to fall overboard in waters about two kilometres deep. 

An additional 74 containers have been damaged and remain collapsed on the deck of the ship, while a further six containers are reported to be protruding from starboard side and three containers from the port side of the ship.