60 containers fall off ship Port of Long Beach

Zeke · 01:35 PM

There's a lot more coverage than this, but for a quick glance at what is going to be a major hassle you can check out 3 pics. No injuries reported,

https://lbpost.com/news/dozens-of-shipping-containers-spill-from-docked-vessel-at-port-of-long-beach/

My stepson is a marine cargo surveyor and is on site. I should have some interesting pics later today and tonight. The question at the moment is how to discharge this mess.

Maybe our member up in Canada that worked Nova Scotia ports will weigh in. Sorry, temporarily forgot his name. What happens when you get old.

I remembered. @yellowperil

Arizona_928 · 09-09-2025, 01:37 PM

Guess I’m not going to get that **** shipment

Bill Douglas · 09-09-2025, 01:40 PM

"From China", so don't worry about the contents.

Zeke · 09-09-2025, 01:49 PM

Yeah, one reporter in a helo said he saw shoes and apparel.

Just got word that the containers that fell dockside against one crane out of 7 are going to be allowed to fall further as they are "slacking" the lines and allowing the ship to move away from the dock.

Don't know what happens next.

These have now fallen. That orange thing is a life capsule.

cabmandone · cabmandone's Garage

Well! I'm glad my mini skid steer isn't on that boat!

Zeke · 09-09-2025, 02:00 PM

I don't know the purpose of this little area of shallow water but they hurried to move them any way they could to get them close to the pier. Likely large truck cranes will arrive soon. The dock cranes don't rotate and this mess is off to the side of a crane that you can just see a leg in the upper right. They are on rails and move along the side of a containers ship. 7 at once can discharge this size ship in about 8 hours. Or less. They pick one every 1 to 2 minutes. The ones on top go quickly.

KFC911 · 09-09-2025, 02:08 PM

What a mess ... somebody didn't read the "knot thread" or did something break? Too soon...?

Zeke · 09-09-2025, 02:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KFC911

What a mess ... somebody didn't read the "knot thread" or did something break? Too soon...?

Just reported that it is a possibility of direct human error as opposed to indirect error in the loading sequence. So that means the discharge sequence is being looked at in that they were not keeping the ship level by picking from side to side equally.

I have to tell you, the crane operators make in excess of 200K/yr but they follow the instructions of someone else like a loadmaster on a cargo plane. It could be a superintendent, I really don't know. My wife worked 1500 feet from that dock for 14 years. The cranes have been installed since she retired.

All she knows is this is serious AFA port events go. So far indications are the this is the biggest mishap in port from the beginning of the history of the port. That is not to say men haven't died as a result of port operations. It just takes one container to cause a major issue and possible death. Amazing that no one was in the way..

It may come out, but somehow maybe those on hand knew this was not going well and got the hell out of there.

onewhippedpuppy · 09-09-2025, 04:02 PM

All T-moo containers, a grand total of $520 lost….

Zeke · 09-09-2025, 06:02 PM

The story has always been muddy, but Harbor Freight Tools was originally named Harbor Freight Salvage. Being in Long Beach all my life and near the port, I have always suspected the Schmidt's of picking up tools at the port that suffered damage in shipment, even just light rust. They created a mail order business but were quick to cash in on returned merchandise.

Now this is only my opinion as a local, but it seems to me that they were looking specifically at shipments that were refused for one reason or another. The rest is history.

There were no containers then, only large pallets. Ships were a lot smaller and suffered the Pacific weather.

I don't mean to hijack the thread as I have done, but shipping mishaps have always been an issue. My wife's father used to work out in the port parking lot on imported VW's in the 60's fixing dents. Who knows, he may have been one of the first PDR guys and didn't even think that would become a thing. Of course he would not embrace that as he went on getting into the auto body repair business because painting was profitable.

Back to the original story. It appears that not much is happening while those that could or should be figuring out what to do seem to be sitting on their thumbs for the moment. I imagine insurance investigators are trying to figure out how to not spend a fortune so they so far have not called in a cavalry of cranes. There may be some divers involved attaching hooks and I suspect some welders cutting off bound up doors to assess the losses. Every single person has to have a TWIC card and a union card to gain access.

The merch loss might be $520 but the clean up will run a few hundred thousand.

speeder · speeder's Garage

There was just a super low mileage 930 on BaT, it was pretty much in showroom condition with a documented no accident/no paintwork history and I think 7k miles. Black/black, nice car. Flawless.

The only thing was that one panel, (I think it was the drivers door), metered out thicker paint then the rest of the car. The seller could not explain it because he knew the whole history and it had never been hit. I chimed in about port repairs….back in the ‘80s when I worked at the dealer, it was common knowledge that cars got scratched and dinged in transit and Porsche, as well as all of the other German car manufacturers, had their own body shop at the port. Cars on the showroom floor sometimes already had repairs done but it was done by factory workers and it was undetectable.

Port trivia, as posted by Milt above.

porsche tech · 09-10-2025, 03:10 AM

During a tour of the port in Savannah, the guide told us it was not uncommon for containers to fall off at sea.

onewhippedpuppy · 09-10-2025, 04:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

There was just a super low mileage 930 on BaT, it was pretty much in showroom condition with a documented no accident/no paintwork history and I think 7k miles. Black/black, nice car. Flawless.

The only thing was that one panel, (I think it was the drivers door), metered out thicker paint then the rest of the car. The seller could not explain it because he knew the whole history and it had never been hit. I chimed in about port repairs….back in the ‘80s when I worked at the dealer, it was common knowledge that cars got scratched and dinged in transit and Porsche, as well as all of the other German car manufacturers, had their own body shop at the port. Cars on the showroom floor sometimes already had repairs done but it was done by factory workers and it was undetectable.

Port trivia, as posted by Milt above.

Still happens today, super common for vehicles to be damaged in transit or on the lot. A good friend of mine is the regional manager for a local chain of body shops, he sees new cars all the time for minor repairs.

Years ago when I was F-150 shopping I watched a salesman back into a brand new one on the lot because they were parked three deep. I told him “I don’t want that one”.

HobieMarty · 09-10-2025, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KFC911

What a mess ... somebody didn't read the "knot thread" or did something break? Too soon...?

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

Jolly Amaranto · 09-10-2025, 06:08 AM

Sal Mercogliano did a live report and explained a lot about what probably happened.
https://www.youtube.com/live/vzmk6aDumek?si=yXx0brIK_tK_rbpb

craigster59 · craigster59's Garage

I doubt it has anything to do with this mishap, but my Son runs cyber security for the largest container company in the world.

He travels all over the world going up into those cranes with a 5G scanner checking for Chinese chips emitting signals. That's the biggest cyber threat, China's ability to disable equipment there by crippling our supply chain.

Zeke · 07:56 AM

There's surprisingly little news today.

Edit: Just got a report. No news because they have not been able to do anything. Nothing. Estimated 2 weeks to clear and unload the ship.

Jolly Amaranto · 09-10-2025, 09:05 AM

Update from Sal at "What's going on in Shipping".
https://youtu.be/IEg8EvG9o4w?si=21lBL_oGKH9J4I1Y

Arizona_928 · 09-10-2025, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche tech

During a tour of the port in Savannah, the guide told us it was not uncommon for containers to fall off at sea.

I love tour guides. Did they mention dredging the harbor or rebuilding the bridge?!

Zeke · 09-10-2025, 02:16 PM

Something I didn't think of, they are waiting somewhat on the NTSB. We usually associate them with airplane crashes but they do trains and apparently ships. I have to think that at this point there may be as many investigators there from ins cos, OSHA, NTSB, and who knows who else, as there are workers involved with recovery. I'm sure the place is crawling with safety people too.

Talk is that they may start off loading stacks that are not affected to get at the ones that are. There are experienced salvage operators that do this as well. Learning all this on the fly.