Green water MARIN study reveals: Feeder ships sailing by the Dutch Wadden Islands are at risk of losing deck containers

With the accident of the Ultra Large Container Ship “MSC Zoë” in January 2019, during which 342 containers were lost overboard a few miles off the Dutch Wadden Islands, the problem of recurring container losses and the associated pollution in an area labelled as “Particularly Sensitive Sea Area” regained public attention.

While the initial focus was on the larger vessels, more recent container losses from the 169 m “OOCL Rauma” and the 170 m “Baltic Tern” - representing five containers in both cases - showed that feeder ships are also at risk. With a
relatively low freeboard, feeder ships are more vulnerable to green water than larger vessels. Therefore, the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management asked MARIN to conduct a study on the risk of green water exposure for feeder ships, in view of refining the recommendations sent by the Netherlands Coastguard to ships in the area.