A P&O Cruises ship was forced to delay its departure at the UK’s largest cruise port due to thousands of bananas plunging into the sea.
The 5,200-guest P&O Iona was scheduled to depart the Port of Southampton Saturday evening but had to stay overnight due to a nearby cargo ship mishap.
Sixteen containers aboard cargo ship Baltic Klipper came loose and fell into the sea just a few miles from Southampton. Many of the containers were filled with bananas, a few were empty and one was carrying avocados.
It happened in the Solent – a narrow channel of water between Southampton and the offshore Isle of Wight and is one of the busiest shipping lanes in the UK. The Coast Guard issued a warning to all shipping on Saturday while it managed the salvage of the containers. It deployed search boats and aircraft to locate the containers.
“HM Coastguard is closely monitoring the situation and working with the relevant authorities, including the vessel’s owners, who are responsible for recovering the containers,” the Coast Guard said.
“Broadcasts are being sent to warn local shipping and Selsey Coastguard Rescue Team is on patrol.”
According to media reports, bananas began washing up on shore by Sunday morning and later in the day, five containers were located washed up east of Southampton.
Cruise Ship Expected to Complete Sailing Without Any Further Disruption
Iona was eventually given the all-clear to depart from Southampton late on Sunday – a delay of more than 24 hours. P&O Cruises says the delay won’t impact any of its scheduled port calls.
The ship is on a two-week sailing to the Canary Islands. It’s first port stop is on December 10 in Madeira. It is also due to call at Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Cádiz, Spain and Lisbon, Portugal.
The passenger disruption follows a similar incident earlier this year, when a mechanical problem caused the Carnival Horizon to delay its departure, resulting in passengers losing their first day of sailing.
