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Subject: Re: TWL: Re: Containers Lost at Sea
Albin43Tr@XXX.XXX
Date: Fri Jan 11 2002 - 13:47:04 EST
'Lo all,
In a former life, I had occasion to ship some stuff overseas in a bunch of
aluminum containers. During the discussions, loss of the containers at sea
came up. Being a sailor, I asked how long the containers would float.
Estimates ranged from forever to not long, all dependent upon how well the
containers were sealed. (Apparently, they have barely adequate seals in
general.) The shipping rep made a comment that there was an effort under way
to develop and install two plugs in the containers that would blow/disolve
(??) in the event that the containers were submerged in water for a time.
This would allow for ingress of water and egress of air, thus letting the
containers sink if the resultant specific gravity was greater than that of
sea water. The problem being, that they did not want the plugs to let go
prematurely from rain and/or sea spray while still safely secured on board
the ships. Lots of containers will float even if filled with water. It was
guessed that many of ours would just barely float, as the cargo was wood, and
the containers well packed, such that the buoyancy of the wood would offset
the weight of the containers. We did not lose any containers during the
shipment.
I do not know if the plugs are now installed or not. Does anyone on the list
know?
Wayne
M/V Celestial
Albin 43 Sundeck
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