LIHU‘E — Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of swollen, waterlogged carrots have been washing up on Eastside beaches.
Kapahi resident Jimmy Trujillo was walking on Kealia Beach last Sunday when he spotted one, and pointed it out to his wife.
“I said, ‘Look at that carrot.’ She thought I was joking,” said Trujillo. “And then about 20 yards later, another carrot. There were at least a dozen, about one every 30 yards.”
Brian Miller reported that he had seen “seven or eight carrots” at an Eastside beach, and posted a video of the find in a Facebook community group.
The comment section was quickly full of others who had seen carrots in Anahola, Moloa‘a, and even offshore while fishing.
The first carrots were spotted two Fridays ago, and they were still being discovered last Sunday.
The source of the vegetables remains unknown.
The most-common theory in the Facebook comments section is that the carrots were discharged from a passing ship.
“At first I thought it was maybe from Kealia farmers’ market,” said Trujillo. “But I saw that Facebook post with people saying they saw it on Moloa‘a and at ‘Anini, so maybe it was one of the cruise ships.”
Cruise ships are permitted to dump food waste, but are subject to regulations on where they can release.
The Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Coast Guard share regulatory authority over cruise-ship dumping, with the EPA presiding over no-discharge zones, where cruise-ship dumping is forbidden. None of these zones are located in Hawai‘i.
The USCG prohibits dumping food less than 12 miles from the nearest land under the Act to Prevent Pollution From Ships.
The EPA and USCG could not be reached for comment by press time Friday.
Kaua‘i County Councilmember Luke Evslin, who also got involved in the comments section, was skeptical of the cruise-ship theory.
“That would have to be like tons and tons of carrots to make that much of an impact across the Eastside,” Evslin told The Garden Island. “But I guess nothing else really makes sense either.”
There are hundreds of shipping containers lost at sea every year and many are still floating so logically it is not if but when the cargo turns up on our shores.
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M/V Dyros (ex-Bunga Raya Lapan). Photo courtesy MarineTraffic/Andrew Mackinnon
Maersk Ship Loses Containers in Pacific Ocean
Mike Schuler
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March 24, 2022
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A Maersk-operated containership lost around 90 containers in heavy weather this week during an eastbound voyage in the North Pacific Ocean, the company has confirmed.
Some of the containers lost overboard contain dangerous goods such as lithium-ion batteries. About another 100 containers are collapsed or damaged on deck.
“We regret to confirm that the 4,578 TEU, Liberia-flagged vessel Dyros, chartered and operated by Maersk, lost around 90 containers in the North Pacific Ocean because of rough weather on 21 March 2022. Nine of these containers are labelled dangerous cargo and contained lithium-ion batteries packed with equipment,” Maersk said in a statement to gCaptain.
The cargo loss on board the M/V Dyros took place approximately 1,200 nautical miles from Japan as the ship was travelling from Yantian, China to Seattle, Washington, Maersk said.
Cargo consultancy WK Webster reported that, as of March 21st, the ship was southwest of the Fox Islands, Alaska with a scheduled arrival in Seattle on March 27th.
No injuries have been reported and the ship is continuing on its voyage.
“The ship is able to continue its voyage and is heading for safe port. Crew, vessel and operations safety are of highest importance, and we are working closely together with the ship managers and we view this as a very serious incident which will be investigated thoroughly with the aim of minimizing the risk of similar incidents in the future,” Maersk said.
The M/V Dyros, built in 2008, has a length overall (LOA) of 259.8 meters and her width is 32.25 meters, according to ship tracking and maritime analytics provider MarineTraffic.
The exact position of the cargo loss was not provided.
The NOAA Ocean Prediction Center’s sea-state analysis from March 21st shows significant wave heights of 4-6 meters:
Credit: Ocean Prediction Center
Maersk claimed one of the worst cargo losses of the 2020-2021 winter season when the Maersk Essen lost approximately 750 containers during a voyage from China to Los Angeles, California in January 2021. About a month later Maersk Eindhoven lost some 260 containers overboard after a loss of propulsion off the coast of Japan.