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Drifting Bath Toys Expected To Hit New England
gsx1400 writes " Auntie Beeb is reporting on the 11 year, 5,000+ mile journey by a container load of rubber ducks, The article doesn't go into specifics, but a more detailed analysis of this and other long-distance flotsam is here. This has nasty connotations for the Cargo of the SS Mulheim, which ran aground earlier this year in Cornwall, and has been left to break up. It's estimated that up to 10,000 containers are washed off ships each year, and many of them do not sink, but drift around our oceans, causing pollution and shipping hazards."
You would probably find that the stacked blocks are joined together with large pins, just as they would be on a flatbed truck or rail car, just a few (!) boxes higher than what they would be on either. As stable as container ships are, things still have to be secured, as something as heavy as a container would shift so easily on even a gentle roll, potentially capsizing the ship.
Now, I haven't seen this for myself, but i just cannot fathom the idea of so many large unsecured objects stacked up so high on any sort of vessel.