The US Coast Guard, in coordination with Los Angeles City Fire and Los Angeles Port Police, is responding to three 40-ft containers that fell into the water near Berth 302 at the Port of Los Angeles during container vessel cargo operations.
At approximately 11:20 local time on Monday, September 14, Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach watchstanders were alerted to the incident and launched Station Los Angeles Long Beach to establish a 400-yard (370-metre) safety zone in the vicinity of the incident.
Two of the containers are submerged, and their locations are marked, while the other container has been removed from the water. According to the ship’s manifest, the containers’ contents are listed as non-hazardous.
Divers located and attached flotation bags to the first submerged container. Once raised, crews towed the container to a designated holding area at approximately 22:00 on Monday.
The second container was recovered using the same method at approximately 08:00 the following morning.
The safety zone has been lifted and the coast guard has deemed the waterway safe for vessel traffic.
The coast guard coordinated response operations with Los Angeles City Fire Department, Los Angeles Port Police, commercial salvage personnel and other partners to stabilise the incident, manage maritime traffic, and recover the containers.
Photographs of the response effort show one of the fallen containers near the berthed Singapore-registered vessel APL Dublin. However, the coast guard has not formally stated whether the fallen containers were from the same ship.
