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Evergreen Marine Corporation has confirmed that its 2014-built 9,466TEU ship Ever Liberal, has suffered a stack collapse while en route from Busan, South Korea, to Los Angeles at approximately 0230 UTC on 30 December 2020.
The Taiwanese liner operator told Container News that when the ship was around 20 nautical-miles southwest of Japan's Kyushu island, heavy winds and rough seas caused some of the containers to topple.
Up to 36 40ft containers fell overboard while 21 similar containers fell onto the ship deck.
Evergreen said, “The captain of Ever Liberal immediately notified the Japan Coast Guard to alert any vessels nearby of possible floating containers.”
At the Japan Coast Guard’s instruction, Evergreen appointed salvors to recover the containers that fell overboard.
Evergreen explained, its offices are close to Taipei port and, “All shore-based support and management resources can render full assistance to facilitate the processing of damaged containers, and to minimise the impact on the ship's schedule.”
General Average will not be declared, Evergreen said, as all losses incurred will be covered by the company’s insurers.
Evergreen stated that all crew members are safe and Ever Liberal remains seaworthy and is continuing its voyage. No hazardous goods are contained within the affected containers.
In consideration of navigational safety, Ever Liberal deviated from its original course, arriving in Taipei port on 2 January 2021, to offload damaged containers. The ship will then continue its voyage to Los Angeles as planned.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
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