Coast Guard Honors Charleston Harbor Pilot Christopher Thornton For Safely Steering Runaway Container Ship

Early last month, we posted about the departure on the morning of June 5th, of the container ship MSC Michigan VII from the North Charleston Container Terminal in Charleston, South Carolina. Its engine was set to “dead slow ahead” as … Continue reading

Throttle Stuck at Full Ahead on Container Ship MSC Michigan VII in Charleston Harbor, Bridge Shutdown

On Wednesday morning at 11:46 a.m. the container ship MSC Michigan VII departed the North Charleston Container Terminal in Charleston, South Carolina, with its engine set to “dead slow ahead” as it moved down the Cooper River toward the Arthur … Continue reading

Container Ship Dali May be Refloated This Week After Controlled Demolition Removes Bridge Wreckage

The trapped container ship Dali will “hopefully” be refloated this week after authorities set off charges at a key portion of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore on Monday evening, an official said. The charges helped demolish a portion of … Continue reading

Shooting War Heats Up in Red Sea as US Helicopters Sink 3 Houthi Boats

On Sunday morning, Dec. 31, at 6:30am (local time) the container ship Maersk Hangzhou issued a second distress call in less than 24 hours reporting being under attack by four Iranian-backed Houthi small boats. The boats, originating from Houthi-controlled areas … Continue reading

Coast Guard: Distracted Pilot on Cell Phone Prior to Grounding of Container Ship Ever Forward in Chesapeake

Last March, we posted about the grounding of the container ship Ever Forward near Baltimore in the Chesapeake Bay. The ship failed to make a turn in the Craighill channel and ran hard aground on a mud flat, where it … Continue reading

After Unloading 500 Containers & Additional Dredging Ever Forward is Finally Free

Stuck in Chesapeake Bay mud for more than five weeks, the container ship Ever Forward is finally free. Refloating the 1,100-foot long ship required discharging 500 containers and additional dredging but she was dragged by seven tugs from the mudbank … Continue reading

Yara Birkeland — Electric, Not-Yet-Autonomous, Container Ship Makes Maiden Voyage

In August we posted Yara Birkeland, Crewless Electric Container Ship, First Voyage by Year’s End.  We noted that if all went according to plan, the ship would make its first journey between two Norwegian towns before the end of the … Continue reading

After Suez Damage, Container Ship Ever Given’s Bow Looks like a Dropped Pumpkin

Photographs have come out of the bow damage to the container ship Ever Given after she ran hard aground in the Suez Canal, blocking the critical waterway for six days last March. The images were taken in Qingdao, China, where … Continue reading

Update: Container Ship Ever Given Cleared to Sail From Suez Canal

Reuters is reporting that an Egyptian court has lifted the detention order on the Ever Given container ship, allowing its expected release from the Suez Canal on Wednesday, according to a lawyer and judicial sources. The Ever Given’s owners and … Continue reading

Maersk Essen Loses 750 Boxes Overboard in North Pacific

In what is developing into a record winter for containers lost over the side, the Maersk Essen lost 750 containers overboard during a storm on January 16.  An unknown number of boxes were damaged but still onboard. The loss occurred … Continue reading

Container Ship ONE Apus Sets Record for Boxes Lost Over the Side at Over 1,900

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, … Continue reading

After Three Years, USS Fitzgerald Returns to Service

On June 17, 2017, the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, USS Fitzgerald, collided with the container ship  ACX Crystal near Toyko Bay off the coast of Japan. Seven US sailors died in the collision and at least three more were injured, including … Continue reading

Fiskardo Shipwreck — A 2,000 Year Old Container Ship

Good ideas are rarely new. Container ships revolutionized liner shipping in the 1960s and 70s. Nevertheless, the idea of carrying cargo in easily handled standardized containers goes back at least 2,000 years. I was reminded of this when reading about … Continue reading

15.5 Metric Tonnes of Cocaine Seized on Container Ship MSC Gayane in Philly

In one of the largest drug seizures in United States history, Federal authorities seized 15,500 kilos of cocaine hidden in seven shipping containers on the container ship MSC Gayane in the port of Philadelphia. The street value of the drugs … Continue reading

Pilot Schooner No. 5 Elbe, ex-Wander Bird, Sinks After Collision on River Elbe

On Saturday, the restored pilot schooner No. 5 Elbe sank following a collision with a containership on its namesake river at Stade, Germany. The 43 people aboard the 1883 built schooner were rescued almost immediately thanks to a quick response … Continue reading