LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) — U.S. Coast Guard officials are closely monitoring yet another precarious situation involving a cargo ship at the Port of Long Beach.
The OOCL Sunflower, which departed from Taiwan on Feb. 23, encountered heavy weather in the Northern Pacific near the Aleutian Islands. The vessel and its 27 crew members were OK, but it caused 32 containers to fall overboard, officials said. Nearly 60 other containers were damaged and 42 were offset.
Eyewitness News has learned they contain general cargo – raw materials used in the manufacturing of semiconductors and rubber, as well as propellants and refrigerants.
The vessel continued to its destination at the Port of Long Beach.
Once it arrived, contractors inspected each impacted container, using a remote camera to look inside, and conducted air monitoring and heat detection. There have been no releases or reports of pollution at the port so far.
A view from AIR7 showed multiple containers precariously stacked and appearing dangerously close to teetering into the water.
A unified command team of Coast Guard, port and fire officials are now working to safely offload the impacted containers and stabilize the remaining cargo.
Officials said that after crews started to release the straps holding the containers down, they started to fall into the water, sparking the domino effect.
Officials said the goal is to prevent any more containers from going overboard. Back in September, more than 60 shipping containers fell into the ocean from another vessel that was berthed at a Long Beach terminal.
To ensure safety, Coast Guard officials said they are not rushing the offloading process, so it’s unclear how long it will take.
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