AMSA issues charges during ongoing investigation of APL England

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has charged the master of the APL England, which lost about 50 containers overboard off Sydney on Sunday, of offences related to pollution and/or damage to the Australian marine environment.

AMSA’s ongoing inspection of the Singapore-flagged ship revealed that lashing arrangements for cargo were inadequate and securing points for containers on the deck of the ship were heavily corroded.

Allan Schwartz, AMSA general manager of operations, said: “These findings will form part of AMSA’s ongoing investigation and, while we do not want to pre-empt the outcomes of that investigation, it is already clear that the risk of the container loss occurring could have been reduced.”