Maersk initiates the recovery of lost containers in the Jammerbugten Maersk has announced that on Friday they will begin the recovery of the containers that one of their ships lost in the Jammerbugten during the storm Pia in December last year. According to a press release from the shipping company, the timing is due to the favorable weather conditions that make it an appropriate time to start the salvage operation. Kristian Brauner, fleet operations manager at Maersk, states that the salvage vessel will return to the spots on the seabed where containers have previously been spotted. If additional containers are found during the operation, they will also be salvaged. The search for the lost containers was discontinued at the end of March. At that time, out of 46 lost containers, 5 were found on land, 21 were located on the seabed, while 20 were still missing. The 21 containers on the seabed are destroyed and in pieces, and their salvage will be done using a special claw. For the salvage task, Maersk has hired the offshore vessel “Northern Victoria,” equipped with a 20-ton crane.
During the previous search, the contents equivalent to four containers were salvaged, and the operation covered an area of almost 1000 square kilometers, where most containers were found at a depth of about 40 meters. Maersk emphasizes the importance of carrying out the salvage as gently as possible, as the seabed is considered a piece of wild nature. Kristian Brauner points out that they are fully aware of this environmental challenge. The incident took place on December 22 last year when the cargo ship “Mayview Maersk” lost the containers in the sea about 30 kilometers off Hanstholm during the storm Pia. In the days that followed, various goods, including refrigerators, compressors, medical equipment, and shoes, were washed ashore along the coasts.