Over the weekend, extreme weather in the Gulf of Alaska caused 29 containers to fall overboard of a vessel, which was on its way to Prince Rupert’s port.
“The good news is that first of all nobody was injured, or killed with everything shifting, and that none of the containers that were lost [in the ocean], or on board that shifted contained dangerous goods,” said Michael Gurney, Manager of Corporate Communications for the Prince Rupert Port Authority.
The container vessel known as the Cosco Yokohama encountered dangerous weather conditions in the Gulf of Alaska last weekend while traveling from Asia to Prince Rupert.
All together 29 containers were lost in the sea, with little to no chance of them being recovered. There were also many containers onboard that were shifted during the storm, as well as containers that were unaffected.
On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 24, Cosco Yokohama reached its destination at the Fairview Terminal in Prince Rupert, with the remaining containers on the vessel that were unaffected by the storm being removed first. Afterwards a “salvage” operation for the containers that were shifted on the vessel during the commotion occurred.
“It’s business as usual," commented Gurney, mentioning that the remaining part of the operation is being handed entirely by Prince Rupert resources.
“We have enough expertise here in town to handle this rather delicate operation, and the equipment to handle it as well,” said Gurney.
The vessel will sail later this week, as expected, with all the damaged containers removed and all the undamaged containers on their way to their destination somewhere in North America.
At this point, the amount of money lost from the 29 containers that went missing in the storm is unknown.