The Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has issued an emergency alert over 17 empty shipping containers that fell overboard from a merchant vessel and are now drifting in the sea roughly 17 nautical miles west of the Port of Colombo.
The department said the containers went over the side near latitude 06°54’ North and longitude 079°32’ East. Based on prevailing currents, it warned there is a high likelihood the containers will drift towards the coast, particularly along the stretch running from Beruwala north to Negombo and Puttalam.
All multi-day and small fishing vessels operating in or transiting those waters have been told to remain vigilant and exercise extreme caution because of the hazard posed by the floating containers.
Fishermen and mariners who sight any of the drifting containers have been asked to notify the department’s Radio Communication Centre immediately, or to report it to officials at the nearest fisheries harbour.
Vessel identified
The containers went overboard from the Maldives-flagged cargo ship MV MSS GRAPHENE within the outer harbour limits of Colombo early on Saturday morning, Daily Mirror reported, citing a report received by the Colombo Information Fusion Centre. The vessel had left Malé on 28 July bound for the Port of Colombo. Rough sea conditions are believed to have caused the containers to tumble overboard.
The Sri Lanka Navy has deployed craft to the area to monitor the situation and keep the affected waters under continuous observation. The Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre in Colombo has issued a navigational warning to alert all vessels operating in the vicinity.
A hazard compounded by the weather
Half-submerged containers are among the more dangerous obstacles in coastal waters. Empty units float low and are hard to see, particularly at night or in a swell, and a collision can hole or capsize a small fishing boat.
The alert lands in the worst possible conditions. The Met Department’s marine bulletin forecasts very rough seas and waves of up to 3 metres along the same western coastline, and the Fisheries Department has already barred small and one-day boats from the sea between Jaffna and Beruwala. Three boats foundered off Negombo on Saturday morning, killing one fisherman.
Authorities have not indicated who will be responsible for recovering the containers. Accounts of the likely landfall stretch differ slightly: the Fisheries Department’s alert, as carried by Ada Derana and Hiru News, runs from Beruwala north through Negombo to Puttalam, while Daily Mirror describes the at-risk coastline as the stretch between Beruwala and Negombo.
Sri Lanka has had repeated cause to worry about cargo lost off Colombo. The country is still dealing with the consequences of earlier maritime casualties in the region, including the continuing clean-up of plastic pellets washed ashore from the MSC Elsa 3, which sank off the Indian coast in 2025.
Update (August 2): first container reaches shore at Induruwa
A white shipping container washed ashore on Sunday morning behind a tourist hotel at Induruwa, on the south-western coast, and is suspected to be one of the units lost overboard the previous day.
Hiru News placed the landfall more precisely at Athuruwella beach in Induruwa, within the Bentota Pradeshiya Sabha area, and reported that police have warned the public not to go near the container. Ada Derana and Aruna both reported that Kosgoda Police notified the maritime authorities, while Hiru attributed the account to Bentota Police — the beach sits close to the boundary between the two stations’ areas. Investigations are continuing.
The landing point is notable. The Fisheries Department’s original alert expected the containers to drift north-east towards the coastline running from Beruwala up through Negombo to Puttalam. Induruwa lies roughly 20 kilometres south of Beruwala, outside and in the opposite direction from the stretch flagged in that warning — an indication that the containers have not all moved as the initial drift assessment anticipated.
No information has been released on the condition of the recovered container, whether it remains sealed, or how many of the other 16 units are still unaccounted for.
Update (August 3): a second container comes ashore at Rathgama
A second container washed ashore on Monday morning near Owakanda Junction, in the Rathgama police division on the southern coast, police said. It is roughly 40 feet long and white, and police suspect it is another of the units lost overboard from the cargo vessel off Colombo.
Officers of the Southern Province Marine Environment Protection Authority went to the site after Rathgama Police notified the maritime agencies, Hiru News reported, and began removing debris that had washed onto the beach from inside the container, including pieces of rigifoam. The Daily Mirror reported that police are investigating the container’s origin and assessing any hazard it may pose.
Rathgama lies about 15 kilometres north of Galle and roughly 55 kilometres south of Induruwa, where the first container was found on Sunday. Both landfalls are well south of the Beruwala–Negombo–Puttalam stretch the Fisheries Department’s original alert identified as the likely drift path, confirming that the containers have moved south along the coast rather than north.
Fifteen of the seventeen containers remain unaccounted for. Recovery operations are taking place in the same conditions that caused the loss: the Met Department has red and amber marine warnings in force for the southern coastal waters, and rough seas have contributed to five fishermen’s deaths since the weekend.
