Hazmat not among overboard boxes

Hazmat not among overboard boxes    The U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday that Seaboard Marine reported that no hazardous material was contained in any of the missing containers that fell overboard from the vessel Seaboard Intrepid 30 miles off Key West, Fla., on Jan. 25.
   The Coast Guard added that officials have cross-referenced the original cargo manifest and concur with Seaboard Marine's assessment that the majority of the containers that fell overboard were empty, with a few containing non-hazardous materials such as cloth and textiles.
   During a storm Jan. 25, 30 containers fell from the Seaboard Intrepid and seven empty refrigerated containers are believed to be partially sunk and adrift. Seaboard Marine and Coast Guard units have sighted five of the seven containers, 12 to 25 miles offshore of Miami. Twenty-three containers are believed to be sunk in deep water off the Florida Keys. Efforts to locate the two remaining containers continue.
   Representatives from the Coast Guard, the Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Florida and other environmental stakeholders approved a plan presented by Seaboard to dispose of the partially submerged containers Thursday. In this plan, Seaboard Marine proposed marking all remaining afloat containers with a strobe light and an emergency position-indicating radio beacon to track their movement. In addition, Seaboard Marine agreed to sink the afloat containers in a water depth between 500 to 1,300 feet, and not in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
   Seaboard Marine is responsible for the recovery and salvage of the adrift containers and will assume the search for the two additional containers believed to remain afloat. Because the partially submerged containers could pose a threat to commercial traffic in the area, Coast Guard units from Key West to Miami have worked to track the semi-submerged containers.