Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has called for improvements to Canada’s emergency preparedness rules following the release of a report looking into a boxship accident off Vancouver Island three years ago.
The ZIM Kingston lost 109 containers — two containing hazardous materials — during dire weather in October 2021, in an accident that also saw a number of containers catch fire onboard, which were put out eventually with the help of nearby private firefighting ships. The TSB said yesterday Canada lacks sufficient public firefighting capacity.
“It is important not to mistake this luck for emergency preparedness. The next time we might not be as lucky,” said TSB chair Kathy Fox.
TSB investigators said the accident was caused by parametric rolling. The ship rolled four times, losing about 11% of its on-deck cargo. Just 3% of the 1,500 tonnes of cargo that spilled overboard was recovered.
