CMA CGM Bianca

The incident

On 2 August 2020, following a violent storm, the container ship CMA CGM broke away from its mooring in the port of New Orleans (Louisiana, USA), resulting in the loss of four 40-foot containers. Three of these containers were empty while the fourth contained bags of plastic pellets. Some of the bags were torn open when the container was lost overboard, causing a large quantity of plastic pellets to be spilled into the Mississippi, where they were quickly swept away by the currents.

The shipping company did not indicate the quantity of pellets spilled, but calculations by Louisiana State University (LSU) and the National Parks Service estimated that nearly 750 million plastic pellets had been released.

Substantial accumulations of pellets were soon found along a 15 km-stretch of the banks of the Mississippi. Staff from LSU carried out counts along the banks, revealing local densities of up to 49,500 pellets per square foot.

Spill response

The bags could not be recovered from the bottom of the river and no clean-up operations for the pellets were organised either by the port authority or public agencies. While the U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the causes of the spill, it nevertheless points out that it has no mandate to recover the plastic pellets, which are not considered hazardous materials under the Clean Water Act.

The CMA CGM Group brought in a private Texas-based clean-up contractor to recover the plastic pellets that were accessible on the sandy banks of the Mississippi. The company sent out workers equipped with leaf blowers and containment booms, from 21 August, to blow the pellets onto the water, where they could be collected.
This spill is expected to prompt the State of Louisiana and the various port authorities to jointly consider the appropriate actions and responsibilities in the event of such a spill, which does not involve hazardous substances, bunker fuel or waste.