Containers

Numerous containers adrift vicinity 56-46.1N 001-33.7E at 151600Z dec

North Sea · HYDROLANT 2962/12

What this record establishes

Archived notice · 2012-12-18 19:45Z

This notice comes from the historical archive. Its archived status does not establish when or how the reported situation ended.

Source and dates: NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · WZ 1629/12 151715Z DEC 12.. Issued 2012-12-15 19:46Z. First collected 2026-08-17 13:38Z; last seen in collection 2026-08-17 15:46Z. Collection dates record ingestion, not a new incident or a fresh field observation.
Location covered: North Sea. The parsed report position is 56.768, 1.562. It is a position in the source message, not a live location. Check the original wording for limits and qualifications.

Current notices and reporting history in the North Sea →

issued: 2012-12-15 19:46Z
status: Archived notice
self-cancels: 2012-12-18 19:45Z
authority: WZ 1629/12 151715Z DEC 12.
issued by: WZ
sea: North Sea
position: 56.768, 1.562
source: NGA MSI broadcast-warn JSON (archive, frozen 2024-05) · first seen 2026-08-17 13:38Z

Original warning text

NORTH SEA.
1. NUMEROUS CONTAINERS ADRIFT VICINITY
   56-46.1N 001-33.7E AT 151600Z DEC.
2. CANCEL THIS MSG 181945Z DEC 12.

Reading this warning

Lost containers: Shipping containers lost overboard, reported floating or semi-submerged, often in groups after a single incident.
Adrift: Loose and moving with wind and current — a vessel, container, buoy, log or anything else no longer secured.
Position (degrees and minutes): How warnings write positions: degrees, a hyphen, then minutes, with N/S and E/W — 49-40.8N 003-43.8W.
Date-time group (DTG): A compact UTC timestamp — day, hour and minute followed by Z — such as 201500Z for the 20th at 15:00 UTC.
CANCEL THIS MSG: The warning's own expiry: a line telling the reader when the message cancels itself.

All warning terms →

Collected reports in this area · drifting containers

15 within 180 nm since 2000 · 0 in the last 12 months · 0 listed in force now

Counts include repeat notices about the same situation. NGA archive coverage ends 2024-05; live collection began 2026-08-17. The period between them is incomplete. An empty year is not evidence that no hazards occurred.

Ten containers adrift in 58-36N 000-56W at 311156Z oct2020-10-31
Container adrift in 58-34.6N 004-51.2E at 081213Z mar2020-03-08
Container adrift in 58-03.4N 004-13.8E at 290158Z oct2017-10-29
Four containers adrift in 54-53.6N 000-07.3W at 312120Z jan2015-01-31
Container adrift vicinity 58-07.0N 004-37.2E at 102120Z jan2015-01-11
Container adrift in 58-07.4N 000-48.4E at 021215Z feb2012-02-02

Month of issue in the collected archive

All available years combined. Uneven collection and repeat bulletins affect these counts; this chart does not measure the seasonality or probability of incidents.

Nearby notices listed in force · within 120 nm

No other collected notice is currently listed in force within this radius. This does not establish safe conditions.

Worldwide in the collected sources

0 drifting containers listed in force · see all

Record snapshot 2026-10-02 05:06Z; source collection times vary.

Containers

Shipping containers lost overboard and reported adrift or semi-submerged. All current drifting containers →

Not for navigation. This is a re-rendering of an official navigational warning for awareness; mariners must use official NAVAREA broadcasts and their national MSI service.