The ocean vessel ‘APL Vanda’ has been idling off the coast of Djibouti, since the 3rd July, with the reason for its delay shrouded in mystery.

The 17,300 teu container ship was making its regular journey from China to Northern Europe and was due to arrive in Southampton on 17th July, when something happened that has led to lengthy delays.

However, the carriers that make up the Ocean Alliance, who share space on the vessel, have remained tight lipped about what exactly happened, simply describing it as an ‘unexpected incident’.

Initially, we were informed that the vessel would omit the Southampton port call and the cargo would be discharged at Rotterdam, which was concerning enough.

The latest information is the vessel will now continue to the Moroccan port of Tangiers, and its cargo will be transhipped to another vessel that will bring the cargo to the UK.

There remains no information on what may have happened to the vessel, which to us is very concerning. While we aren’t going to speculate in writing, we would love to hear your thoughts on what you think may be happening here?

*Update – 3pm 14th July

The incident is becoming clearer, it appears an unknown number of containers have been lost overboard in a storm. How many is still unclear, we expect that to be clarified when the vessel arrives Tangiers on or around 29th July.