What’s being done about chips, bananas and onions washing up?

Among the chips, tins of milk, bananas and plastic washing up on the south coast of England is wreckage from shipping containers that stored them before falling overboard.

The Baltic Klipper lost 16 containers near the Isle of Wight in December while two other vessels shed cargo near the island in January.

As containers and contents have come ashore in Sussex and Hampshire, volunteers and authorities have launched clean up efforts to remove the debris.

The Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) is investigating the Baltic Klipper incident and told the BBC a “preliminary assessment” is underway of container loss from cargo vessel Lombok Strait on 8 January.

Vessel operator Seatrade said it was “closely cooperating” with authorities to salvage the 17 lost containers, which had non-hazardous contents.

The MAIB said it would decide whether to open a full investigation once “evidence gathered during the preliminary assessment has been examined”.

The other incident that day – where seven containers fell from the Condor Valapariso – falls outside MAIB jurisdiction as it was not a UK-flagged vessel and/or in UK territorial waters.

NSC Shipping said the containers were empty and it would “offer all necessary assistance” to the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency.

The agency has monitored affected waters by air and broadcast navigational warnings.

A spokesperson said that “the break-up of some containers has hampered recording”, but most were “recovered or believed to have sunk”.

The agency said it would “always assess suspected significant breaches of maritime regulations”.

After the first bananas washed up in December, volunteers mobilised to clear the debris.

Ella Garrud from Sussex Wildlife Trust said spilled material posed “a serious threat to marine life”.

The prime minister is among those to have praised volunteers.

One East Sussex beach cleaner, Norman Warm, said there was “no end of material washing in, on top of the usual stuff we find”.

“All the packaging is what we’re concerned about, the synthetic materials, the plastic that’s washing in,” he told BBC Radio Sussex.

He said his group, BHASS Explore, has removed “ton bag after ton bag” of insulation foam and continued organising clean-ups.

Salvagers were working “around the clock” and paid by insurers to clear up material but volunteers “just run on good will”, Warm said.

Industry body the World Shipping Council said 576 containers were reported lost at sea worldwide in 2024 out of about 250 million transported.

A proportion of this was attributed to “hazardous maritime conditions” affecting the increased journeys around the Cape of Good Hope in response to attacks on merchant shipping in the Red Sea.

“Every container lost overboard is one to many,” the group said. “That’s why we keep working to prevent them.”

University of Southampton maritime conditions expert Dr Simon Boxall warned figures may be far higher and “there are dangers environmentally as the contents can be very damaging”.

He said the issue was “not going to go away”.

According to HM Coastguard, all three vessels “made timely reports of their cargo loss” under an International Maritime Organization convention.

Regulations came into force on 1 January requiring vessels that lose containers to inform ships in the vicinity, the nearest coastal state and its flag state.

The United Nations agency said it had “developed and adopted a number of requirements to ensure the safe carriage of containers” and guidance for packing and securing freight.