Containers in UK waters 'no surprise', expert says

Shipping containers falling into UK waters is "no surprise" according to an expert in oceanography and maritime conditions.

Dr Simon Boxall, from the University of Southampton, made the comments after three containers washed up at Seaford in East Sussex on Tuesday.

Several more fell into waters close to the Isle of Wight overnight on Thursday and 16, mostly filled with bananas, fell off a cargo ship into the Solent in December.

Boxall said: "Containers have been washing off ships for as long as container vessels have been at sea" adding that the issue was "not going to go away".

Havant Borough Council said on Tuesday it had also received reports of debris such as insulation foam washing up on the beach at South Hayling.

It advised people not to touch or attempt to remove it "as contents may be unknown and potentially hazardous".

Boxall said lost containers were either washed overboard in storms, which were "measurably increasing in intensity as a result of ocean warming", or lost over the quayside during loading and unloading.

"With Southampton hosting the second largest container port in Britain, and the English Channel being one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, it is perhaps no surprise that accidents from container vessels do occur along our coastline," he said.

The port in Southampton handles about two million containers each year, according to Associated British Ports.

The Containers Lost at Sea Report 2025 by the World Shipping Council found that globally 576 containers were lost in 2024, out of over 250 million that were transported.

Boxall said the figures may be far higher and "there are dangers environmentally as the contents can be very damaging".

"Some contain chemicals, weapons, you name it they go in containers," he said.

He also highlighted a lack of accountability, as there was previously no legal obligation to report container losses in international waters.

"This raises serious concerns for navigation as they sink below the surface for some time before they come to the seabed," he said.

"Anything that hasn't been logged presents an unknown hazard to the environment and shipping."

The International Maritime Organization introduced a change in the law from 1 January, making it compulsory for ship masters to report all losses "without delay and to the fullest extent possible".

Boxall said the issue was "not going to go away", as UK imports were increasing and there was a pressure to turn ships around quickly.

He added that the change in legislation would help to "raise awareness of the true size of the problem and could lead to further action" in the future.

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