On Jan. 9, 13 containers on a container ship docked at the Port of Kaohsiung were accidentally swept into the water. Three were fished out shortly after, while the 10 that sunk to the bottom were not retrieved until the next day.


Thirteen 20-foot containers can be seen in the water. On the afternoon of Jan. 9, a container ship docked at the Port of Kaohsiung's No. 115 wharf was moving containers using a 60-meter crane when 13 containers fell off the ship and into the waters of the second harbor.

The Port of Kaohsiung immediately sent personnel to the scene. However, many of the containers had already sunk 19 meters to the bottom due to the current. They were only able to fish out three containers at the first instant. It wasn't until 4 a.m. on Jan. 10 that all of the containers were retrieved.

Our preliminary conclusion is that the crane the ship was using to move the containers hit a row of containers that were waiting to be moved due to inattention.

The Port of Kaohsiung says all of the containers were empty. However, even an empty container weighs 2,400 kilograms. Luckily, there were no other ships passing by at the time, and no casualties were reported. However, the entry or exit of seven vessels were affected by the incident.

The water depth there is mostly 19 meters. Divers can only work 50 minutes in deep water a day.

This was the first time that the Port of Kaohsiung had experienced such an incident. It took 50 personnel, including a dozen or so divers, to return the port to its normal operations. The ship is expected to be charged for the cost of the operation.