Change of route: Mexico will receive the Maersk Essen

After having lost 750 containers on its voyage through the Pacific Ocean, the Maersk Essen will soon arrive at the Mexican coast.

The vessel is now heading southbound for the Port of Lazaro Cardenas, where it is expected to spend some time lay-up or alongside peeling off the damaged containers on deck. The respective inspections will also be carried out for repair purposes.

The Maersk incident becomes the 4th incident in the last 2 months in the Pacific, with almost 3,000 containers lost in the world’s largest ocean since November 30. This figure should lead us to reflect and to take the technical, operational and legal measures that the case deserves.

Prior to this incident, on November 30, the mega container ship One Apus lost about 1,900 containers overboard 1,600 nautical miles northwest of Hawaii.

On December 31, a vessel operated by Taiwan’s Evergreen Marine lost about 40 containers off the coast of Japan while also crossing the Pacific.

We can draw a momentary conclusion, (as such events are still unfolding), that it is not only climatic factors that are influencing the voyage of shipping.

The longer the ship is and the greater its cargo capacity, the greater the risk associated with its departure, voyage and arrival at its destination port.

This should lead us to reflect, since, if the vessel is overloaded beyond its capacity, the financial losses will be enormous, represented in millions of dollars, and we must give up the utopia that the greater the cargo, the greater the financial return; the facts have shown exactly the opposite.