ABSTRACT
In the Fall of 2021 the Pacific North-west was battered by a series of significant weather events, due to an atmospheric river. Intersecting these severe weather events was a shortage of offload space for deep sea freighters arriving to the Pacific Northwest. With a shortage of berthage space in critical ports, deep sea vessels began to loiter outside of the entrance to the Juan De Fuca Straight. One of those vessels holding offshore was the M/V Zim Kingston, a 4000 TEU containership waiting for an opportunity to offload its containerized cargo in Vancouver.
On October 21, 2021 as the ‘Bomb-Cyclone’ made land fall, the M/V Zim Kingston rolled severely enough to collapse a number of cargo stacks and lose 109 ISO containers overboard. M/V Zim Kingston proceeded inbound and anchored near Victoria. On October 23rd 2021, while still trying to account for all of the damaged and lost cargo and HNS product on board ignited leading to significant cargo fire in multiple cargo bays, leading to the partial abandonment by the of the vessel by the crew.
This case study shows a complex response, using command and control techniques including a Unified Command, new legislation, response plans and bilateral response agreements. The Coast Guard's response to the M/V Zim Kingston adds information and experience to the growing issue of container fires, which are occurring globally about every 60 days. Furthermore, this case study adds details to responding to the loss of containers at sea which are occurring globally about every 60 days. Furthermore, this case study adds details to responding to the loss of containers at sea.