by Lloyd's List

ALL containers that fell into the water at the port of Long Beach following a stack collapse have now been recovered.

More than 75 containers fell from Zim-operated Mississippi (IMO: 9954187) on September 9, both on to the quayside and into the water at Pier G.

Initial reports put the number of containers that fell at 67, but that figure increased during the course of the clean up operation, with some submerged or crushed.

A unified command consisting of the US Coast Guard, Port of Long Beach and Long Beach Fire Department used sonar and remotely operated vehicles to located submerged containers, as well as dive teams that inspected the bottom of Mississippi and identified trapped containers.

The last container was lifted from the water about 1530 hrs on September 26, marking the end of the clean-up effort.

All vessel traffic restrictions put in place following the incident have now been lifted and vessel transits near Pier G no longer require Captain of the Port approval.

Port of Long Beach incident commander for the collapse, Michael Goldschmidt, said the clear up “was an extremely rare event that required a complex and unique salvage operation”.

“We are grateful to the coastguard, vessel managers, salvage teams and the highly skilled ILWU workers for expediting a safe and speedy return to normal operations,” he said.