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APL England container loss

In rough weather, early in the morning of 24 May, about 50 containers were lost overboard from the Singapore-flagged container ship APL England. Read our regular updates.

If you see debris along the New South Wales coastline please report it.


Update: 10 July

The APL England arrived at the shipyard in China on the 4th of July and remains under AMSA detention while the vessel undergoes repairs.

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 A$22.5 million. 

AMSA issued a direction to the owners of the ship on the 12th of June to locate and remove containers as agreed within a priority search area where it is believed multiple containers may have sunk. This area was later revised as a result of new information. A map of the revised search can be seen below. AMSA has welcomed advice from the owners and insurer that they continue to work toward establishing contracts for the search and removal of containers within the identified search area. 

NSW Maritime has undertaken significant cleanup operations along the coastline between Port Stephens and Ulladulla including the removal of shipping containers and their contents. To date 15 of the 50 containers lost overboard have been recovered.

The last sighting of a container confirmed to have come from the APL England was on the 31st of May 2020. We advise the community that if containers or debris are observed along the NSW coastline to report it to NSW Maritime. Floating containers should be reported to AMSA. Contact details for reporting to NSW Maritime and AMSA.

Click on the image to show a larger version:

APL England containers proposed search area priority 1 chart

Broken container from APL England washed up on shoreline

Photo credit: Randwick City Council

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Last updated: 

Friday 10 July 2020