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From: Peter Ogilvie (no email)
Date: Fri Jun 02 2006 - 13:16:27 EDT
I too thought they would all sink. After all, they are steel, are typically packed full to the top, and can't be all that waterproof so would go to the bottom real quick. Just tell that to a refrigerated container. To be efficient they have to be as airtight as possible and the insulation acts like a big life preserver. Containers loaded with material that float can also keep the container bobbing around for a very long time.
If 10% of the containers do go overboard, I think that is a figure that is atrocious. Maybe there needs to be greater regulation of the way container ships are designed, built, and loaded. Almost all of these ships are foreign registered which can mean lax safety regulations and little liability for the owners. Given the pressure for a return on the investment, there isn't any pressure to keep the loss rate down other than insurance costs. Having suffered a loss of goods shipped at sea, the shipper doesn't have squat in the way of liability. The shipper only has to pay a low fixed value based on the cube of the container. Without supplementary insurance, the owner of the goods being shipped bears most of the costs for a lost container.
I wouldn't not go to sea because of containers. The chances of being in the same spot at the same time are infinitesimally small. That doesn't mean that they aren't out there, however. There is even a book written by one sailor who had a too close encounter with a container. The container ripped a hole so large in his hull that he only had a minute or two to abandon ship. Spent a very long time in his raft before being rescued.
Aloha
Peter O.
Bryan Genez <> wrote:
On 6/2/06, Ken James <> wrote:
>
> In fact this is a real and signifigent risk, the risk is not just inflated
> sea stories. There are two main reasons for that, first there are hundreds
> if not thousands of them at any one time and many are in areas where
> sailboats travel, second there is no adequate way to spot them.
> I personally have met two crusisers who had collosions with them.-Ken
I'm not saying it can't happen or has never happened, only that the threat
is not nearly as large as some suggest. Personally, I've never met anyone
who has had a collision with a container, nor have I seen an email from such
a person. I have, however, met many sailors who delight in fabricating
stories of the dangers "out thar".
The physics of containers will result in nearly every one sinking shortly
after they're lost overboard. Containers are steel. They are not air- or
watertight. Typically, containers are filled to capacity, because the
shippers charge just as much to ship an empty container as a full one. So,
for a container to remain "semi-submerged" - i.e., partially afloat - it
must be filled with cargo that will displace the weight of the container
plus any water it ships. That can happen; it just won't happen often.
So, when you hear about ten gazillion containers that are lost overboard
every year, understand that almost every one ends up on the sea bottom very
quickly. They're not out to get you.
--
Best,
Bryan Genez
"Capella" V40-158
New Bern, NC
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