Ship with Lost Container Moves to Nanaimo, British Columbia: Coast Guard

Nanaimo, British Columbia — A cargo ship that lost more than 100 containers in the Pacific Ocean after a fire broke out on board to head to Nanaimo Harbor, British Columbia.

According to officials, MV Zim Kingston is scheduled to leave Constance Bay near Victoria on Friday and was expected to take about 11 hours.

A statement from the unified commander of the agencies involved in the cleanup work states that precautions have been taken for the voyage, including allowing the vessel to move only under certain weather conditions.

The shipowner states that a salvage team was also hired to witness during the trip to monitor the stability of the containers on board and provide firefighting resources.

The vessel was accompanied by a Canadian Coast Guard lifeboat, a US Coast Guard vessel in the US waters, a marine mammal surveillance vessel, and another tugboat that was conducting environmental monitoring.

During a storm about six weeks ago, a container was thrown out of the ship near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, causing a fire on the ship.

The unified command indicates that the cleanup crew is no longer finding the container from the ship. That is, four are found and there are no signs of another 105 containers that appear to have sunk.

“The Canadian Coast Guard will work with shipowners to investigate possible next steps and assess the possibility of trying to find 105 missing containers,” the statement said.

The beach in northern Vancouver Island, where the debris was found, is said to be “now considered clean.” According to the statement, the Jurassic Point on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island is still clear.

So far, more than 27 tons of debris have been removed from the beach. It does not include the 5 trash cans or Jurassic points debris that are still in use.

“Shipowners continue to check for debris at known deposits every few months and remove any likely debris from Zim Kingston,” the statement said. “The Canadian Coast Guard will also monitor debris as it flies over the West Coast Vancouver Island area.”

The Coast Guard says the container contains Christmas decorations, sofas, appliances, clothing, auto parts, toys and other daily necessities. There were also two bottles containing the chemicals used in the mining industry. These are water-soluble and biodegradable.

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