The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) announced that it has launched an investigation on the loss of cargo containers overboard involving YM Efficiency, near Port Stephens, New South Wales, last week.
On 1 June 2018, the 269 m long container ship ‘YM Efficiency’ was off the coast of New South Wales destined for Port Botany. Shortly after midnight, while sailing through rough weather, the vessel rolled and pitched heavily, resulting in substantial movement of the cargo containers.
As a result, from the 2,252 containers onboard, 83 were lost overboard and an additional 30 containers moved or were damaged. There was no reported damage to the vessel.
As part of the investigation, the ATSB will obtain information and recordings from the ship, company and pilots, and will interview directly involved parties, to determine the exact cause of the accident.
A report will be released at the end of the investigation. Should a critical safety issue be identified during the course of the investigation, relevant parties will be immediately notified so that appropriate safety action can be taken.
