Drifting containers in 2026

Shipping containers lost overboard and reported adrift or semi-submerged.

issued in 2026
2
still in force
0
vs 2025
—
comparison unavailable
first · last
08-20 · 08-27

Coverage note: the NGA archive ends 2024-05 and live collection began 2026-08-17. Warnings issued in between are here only if they were still in force when collection started, so this year is under-counted.

What the archive shows

2 messages classified as containers were recorded with issue dates in 2026, from 2026-08-20 to 2026-08-27. The counts include separate updates to the same activity; they are not a count of distinct incidents.

2 recorded messages form a small sample; the sea area breakdown should be read as individual records rather than a pattern.

2 recorded messages form a small sample; the source series breakdown should be read as individual records rather than a pattern.

A full-year percentage comparison is unavailable while the year is in progress.

By month

J
F
M
A
M
J
J
A
S
O
N
D

By NAVAREA series

  • HYDROLANT1
  • HYDROPAC1

Where · top seas

Black Sea150% of all messages
Arabian Sea150% of all messages

All drifting containers issued in 2026 · 2

  1. HYDROLANT 1685/262026-08-27 → 2026-08-28
    Containers are adrift near 44-37.93N 029-46.92E in the Black Sea off Romania, as of 14:55 UTC on August 27.
    Black Sea · Romania
  2. HYDROPAC 2401/262026-08-20 → 2026-08-19
    A partially submerged container is adrift at 18-55.16N 071-55.61E in the Arabian Sea near India, as of 20 Aug 04:00 UTC.
    Arabian Sea · India

Terms used in containers warnings

Adrift
Loose and moving with wind and current — a vessel, container, buoy, log or anything else no longer secured.
Lost containers
Shipping containers lost overboard, reported floating or semi-submerged, often in groups after a single incident.
Semi-submerged
Floating at or just below the surface, so hard to see by eye or radar.

Guide: Lost containers, derelicts and other things adrift

All warning terms →

Sea boundaries: Flanders Marine Institute (2018), IHO Sea Areas v3, marineregions.org (CC BY 4.0). Not for navigation — follow official NAVAREA / coastal broadcasts and your national MSI service.