Copenhagen – It took a week to clean up – and not even completely – the Danish beaches onto which the currents carried dozens of containers lost at sea, during the storm 'Pia', from a ship of the Maersk fleet headed for Gdansk, in Poland.
The Copenhagen-based company confirmed the loss of 46 containers from Mayview Maersk (with capacity of 18,270 TEUs) on the night between 21 and 22 December after departure from Hamburg. The ship continued to Gdańsk, where she remained for a week. Maersk reports that her next port of call will be Bremerhaven, Germany, where she is expected to arrive on January 4.
Meanwhile, Danish maritime authorities continue to raise alarms about missing containers in the North Sea. Danish media report that planes and drones were used to 'comb' the sea, but that the location of any containers or drifting debris has not yet been identified.
Some containers have run aground along kilometers of the North Jutland coast. At least 10,000 pairs of shoes were recovered along with refrigerators, televisions and syringes. The Danish Environment Minister Magnus Heunicke said it had received assurances that there were no hazardous materials inside the containers.
For its part, Maersk has hired a specialist company and is ready to intervene should further containers, or their contents, be spotted in the North Sea or washed ashore. Maersk he specified that he will compensate the volunteers who helped clean Danish beaches.
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