Probe on container loss waits for storm.

(From Lloyds List)

Byline: GL wants further evidence before deciding on what went wrong, writes Janet Porter

SHIP inspectors are waiting for the perfect winter storm to replicate conditions that led to several hundred containers being swept overboard earlier this year.

Although both twistlocks and human error have been unofficially blamed for several incidents involving large containerships, investigators still want further evidence before coming to a final conclusion about what went wrong.

They have had no opportunity yet to reproduce the heavy weather that several ships encountered last winter to test out theories and laboratory experiments about the cause of container losses, Germanischer Lloyd director Torsten Schramm told a press dinner in London.

Mr Schramm revealed that at least one container line was co-operating with the class society and ready to monitor the motion of the ship in similar sea conditions when they next occur.

This has not yet been possible during the relatively fine summer and autumn conditions that have prevailed since the spate of accidents at the beginning of the year.