The one-year-old, 14,000 TEU capacity container ship, ONE Apus, has set a dubious new record. It encountered severe weather about 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii while sailing from Yantian in China to Long Beach, California. In the violent storm, it is believed to have lost or damaged over 1,900 containers, a record for boxes lost over the side. Of these, 40 are believed to be Dangerous Goods containers. Container News suggests that the ship may have lost up to 25% of its cargo. The ship was diverted to Kobe, Japan for assessment.

To put the scope of this casualty in context, the loss on the ONE Apus appears to be greater than the total yearly loss of containers from all ships worldwide. The World Shipping Council, an association of the major container shipping companies, representing 80% of the total global vessel container capacity, states that ships of its members lost an average of 1,382 containers annually during the period 2008-2019. 

The previous record loss of containers overboard was on the Svendborg Maersk which lost 517 containers in heavy weather in the Bay of Biscay in 2014.

One Apus is of Japanese registry, managed by NYK Shipmanagement, owned by Chidori Ship Holding LLC, and chartered to Ocean Network Express (ONE). 

The insurance claim for the loss of the containers on the One Apus is estimated to reach $50 million.

The U.S. Coast Guard has issued a warning to Hawaii mariners as a precautionary measure to watch for floating containers from the One Apus.

ONE Apus estimated to have lost 1,900 containers in severe weather