MSC Antonia loses 46 containers overboard in South African storms

GENEVA : The MSC Antonia is the latest vessel to lose containers overboard in winter storms off South Africa due to Cape of Good Hope diversions.

The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) the Liberian-flagged MSC Antonia lost 46 containers overboard while a further 305 boxes suffered damage in the Indian Ocean corridor on 28 August.

“The incident occurred approximately 29 nautical miles northeast of Port St. Johns while the vessel was enroute from Colombo to New York. In light of the container loss, a navigation warning has been issued to all vessels operating in the affected area,” SAMSA said in a statement.

The MSC Antonio safely arrived in the port of Cape Town on 30 August and would undergo a comprehensive assessment and necessary repairs

The incident with the MSC Antonio follows the loss of 99 containers from the CMA CGM Belem in adverse weather while sailing off the coast of Richards Bay in South Africa on Thursday 16 August.

The 13,000 teu CMA CGM Belem sought safe habour in the Port of Ngqurha following the incident and has since been making load adjustments.

On Friday last week, the ship’s insurer representatives in South Africa launched a five hour aerial surveillance and search for the vessel’s lost containers after several sightings of floating containers along the Wild Coast area of the Eastern Cape province were reported to the authorities.

SAMSA said around 20 containers were spotted but it could not be confirmed that they belonged to the CMA CGM Belem.

The incident with the CMA CGM Belem came just a month after the CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin lost 44 containers overboard off the coast of South Africa while sailing round the Cape of Good Hope.

All three vessels in recent incidents were on voyages between Asia and Europe and transiting the Cape of Good Hope due to the security situation in the Red Sea.

Container ships would normally transit the Red Sea and Suez Canal between Asia and Europe, however, the vast majority have diverted to sailing via the Cape of Good Hope to avoid attacks on shipping in the Red Sea by the Houthi in Yemen. This has exposed vessels that would not normally transit the African cape to severe winter storms in the region