Most of the time, cargo ships make it to the dock before their contents are unloaded. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in Long Beach, California, where more than 60 shipping containers tumbled into the water while docking. As the Mississippi pulled ashore, onlookers watched in shock as the shipping containers crashed to the water below like dominoes. Many caught the catastrophic event on camera.
It became quickly apparent that the cargo contained shoes and apparel as it flowed to the surface of the water. The instability of the first few stacks caused several more to fall into the water hours after docking, making the situation worse. While authorities are currently fishing debris from the water, they have not yet figured out what caused the premature unloading. However, Reddit was happy to fill in the gaps.
“More than likely, it was a ship ballast wrong. Ships have ballast tanks, they fill with water, and someone probably did some shit wrong,” one user commented. Another agreed, adding, “If you pause right at the beginning of the video before it zooms in, you can see it’s listing pretty bad, they definitely fucked up the ballast.” One mentioned an imbalance of cargo, stating, “They pull the wrong stuff from the wrong place, this can happen.”
Others took a more humorous approach to the situation. To lighten the mood, one Reddit user said, “Your shipment has been delayed while we fish it out of the port docks. Please allow an additional 2 days before requesting a refund or replacement.” Another replied, adding to the internet bit: “Dear Temuzon Express, my order of water-soluble lotion arrived but damaged. Can I get some help in getting a return on this order?”
Some went with popular consumerism jokes, making guesses on what was in the shipping containers themselves:
“Damn. That’s gotta be close to a $20 loss for Temu.”
“I was wondering where my $4 robot lawnmower was.”
“There goes my crazy-color-item LED drone with 4ft range. Shores will soon be awash with cheap EVA foam flip flops.”
“My Labubus!”
Though there were many taglines, one summed up the incident well: “Nature just ordered a surprise bulk delivery. Free shipping… and sinking.”
