On August 28th, MSC's container ship MSC Antonia, flying the Liberian flag, encountered severe weather near the port of St. John in South Africa, causing 46 containers to fall into the water and another 305 containers to be damaged.
The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) stated in a statement that the accident occurred approximately 29 nautical miles northeast of St. John's Port, while the MSC Antonia was on its way from Colombo to New York. Due to the loss of containers, SAMSA has issued navigation warnings to all vessels in the affected area.
It is reported that the MSC Antonio has safely arrived at Cape Town Port on August 30th and will undergo a comprehensive assessment and necessary repairs. SAMSA stated, "Fortunately, there have been no reports of crew injuries, and despite the accident, the ship is still able to continue sailing safely“
SAMSA reminds all maritime operators and the public to act with caution and requires that any containers or debris found along the South African coastline be immediately reported to local authorities or SAMSA, contacted the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC), and provided with the location, number, and color of the discovered containers.
The incident of the MSC Antonio container falling into the water occurred shortly after the incidents of the BENJAMIN FRANKLIN and Belem containers falling into the water, both owned by Dafei.
According to reports, on the night of August 15, 2024, the container ship "Belem", flying the flag of Malaysia, encountered severe weather near the coast of Richards Bay, causing a serious collapse of the stack and 99 containers falling into the water.
This ship has a length of 336 meters, a height of 51 meters, and a draft of 14.8 meters. It initially sought refuge in Mayington Bay and later diverted to Elizabeth Harbor.
Last Friday, the insurance company's representative in South Africa conducted a five hour aerial surveillance of the ship to search for the lost containers. Previously, there were reports that floating containers were found in the wild coastal areas of the Eastern Cape province.
Although the search team discovered about 20 containers during the search process, it was not easy to determine whether these containers belonged to the "Belem" of Dafei.
SAMSA stated that efforts are being made to locate the container that fell into the water. The safety of crew, ships, and the environment remains its top priority. In addition, SAMSA emphasizes that attempting to salvage any wreckage that may be washed ashore may pose potential and unnecessary dangers, and reminds the public to avoid handling any wreckage and to contact authorities for safe salvage and disposal.
At present, in order to avoid attacks by the Houthi armed forces in Yemen in the Red Sea, the vast majority of container ships have diverted to the Cape of Good Hope, which means that ships that usually do not pass through the African Cape are now facing severe winter storms in the region. Given the recent frequent incidents of containers falling into water in South Africa, ships sailing around Cape of Good Hope may encounter delays. We remind all cargo owners and freight forwarders to pay timely attention to cargo node information to avoid unnecessary losses caused by delays.
Source: SouHang Network
