Lost at sea: Ecological assessment around a sunken shipping container

Thousands of shipping containers are lost from cargo vessels each year. Many of these containers eventually sink to the deep seafloor. In 2004, researchers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) discovered a lost shipping container almost 1,300 meters (4,200 feet) below the surface of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. In the first ever survey of its kind, researchers from MBARI and the Sanctuary recently described how deep-sea animal communities on and around the container differed from those in surrounding areas.

The red dots seen in some of the underwater footage are lasers mounted on the remotely operated submersible. The lasers are 29 cm apart and allow the scientists to estimate animal size.

Video editor: Kyra Schlining
Script and narration: Josi Taylor
Production support: James Barry, Kim Fulton-Bennett, Linda Kuhnz, Lonny Lundsten, Nancy Jacobsen Stout, Susan vonThun

For more information visit:

MBARI press release:

Original publication:
Taylor, J.R., DeVogelaere, A.P., Burton, E.J., Frey, O., Lundsten, L., Kuhnz, L.A., Whaling, P.J., Lovera, C., Buck, K.R., Barry J.P. (2014) Deep-sea faunal communities associated with a lost intermodal shipping container in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, CA. Marine Pollution Bulletin

Special thanks to Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot (PLANET OCEAN/HOPE PRODUCTION) for the beautiful aerial container footage.

[luke_]

This container contains steel belted tires for anyone who is wondering what's inside.

[ckm-mkc]

It's remarkable how well the container is holding up after 7 years underwater.

[FATMAN]

It's been 8 years since this came out, I wanna know how the container is doing

[AngusMurray]

Imagine that rapidly sinking to the bottom, poor sea creatures living where it fell

[CivilEngineerWroxton]

Shipping containers with more hazardous contents are shipped on a part of the ship that would be impossible for those containers to fall off. The containers that are stacked the highest and end up falling off have things like clothing, shoes, and other materials that are very low on the toxicity scale compared to the content of the other containers. Refrigerated and sensitive cargo containers are shipped inside the belly of the ships to where it is impossible for them to simply tip and fall off during a storm or other dangerous event. So it is very highly unlikely that this container or any others on the ocean floor have hazardous or extremely toxic materials inside. Just as the narrator said, it is the paint on the container that is the concern.

[richardbrown]

The real problem with lost containers is the the ones that don’t sink, many small boats have been damaged or lost due to collision with them.

[raphaelprotti]

Quite interesting. I worked on a pearl farm in the south pacific a long time ago. The pearl oysters are strung on cables suspended about 50ft underwater in the middle of an atoll's lagoon. The oysters have to be scraped clean every 6 months due to all the marine life developing on any surface it can find. I would have expected the containers to provide the same support, but perhaps there is a toxicity component to this.

[jakefrancis]

That was brilliant. Non biased. Well done

[rmdhndwi]

While everyone is curious by whats inside the container, i just wondered how the container lay by its corner without tipping over, for years

[justincook]

Please do more videos like this! So interesting!

[obreycarlpinkihan]

Shipping company: lost cargo
Sea floor: it's free real estate

[shubh_]

so they found the container just after 4 months. and look at me, I found this video after *6 years* 😅

[KoolBreeze]

I wonder whats in the container maybe one of my eBay orders that never showed up. lol

[reallyhappenings]

This is where Harbor Freight gets its inventory

[codeman]

I'm pretty sure just about everyone is thinking the same thing watching this. WHAT IS INSIDE IT D:

[drinny]

The company should be forced to remove it.

[uncommonsense]

Be interesting to pull it up in another 10 years and see if any organisms have colonized inside. For now, drill a small hole and do a Spectrochemical analysis of the water inside of the container to see what is leaching. Since there is a high stagnation state there, should get some pretty strong results. Working at Monterey bay would be a dream job. Deep ocean physics are fascinating.

[anandgupta]

Why do almost 4K people dislike this beautifully made video???

[QueenSweetheart]

I just wanted to see what's inside of it

[viktorlopes]

The real question here is why aren't shipping companies held responsible for the contamination, pollution and recovery of these containers.