How many shipping containers are really lost at sea?

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So just what are the risks of losing your cargo due to a container being lost overboard on the high seas? According to the latest research from the World Shipping Council (WSC), it is substantially fewer than the “urban myths” that often accompany the subject –10,000 a year is a figure sometimes quoted. However, although the WSC has found that losses have been on the increase in recent years, the figures have been partly inflated by the catastrophic MOL Comfort loss, where over 4,000 boxes were lost in a single incident, and the grounding of the MSC Rena.