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Bananas Ahoy as Overboard Containers Wash Ashore

overboard container driven on shore
Containers that fell overboard were drive onshore during the storm (Andy/BirderNikon on X)

Published Dec 11, 2025 6:36 PM by The Maritime Executive


Five days after eight containers carrying bananas were washed overboard from the reefer ship Baltic Klipper in Southampton Water, bananas in the thousands are still washed up onto the beaches of the West Sussex coast in southern England. A total of 16 containers were lost overboard, with others transporting plantains and avocados.

It has turned into a bit of a bonus day for residents who have been finding the jetsam within the wreckage of the containers. With heavy seas and high winds, the containers were driven onto shore, and many were broken apart. As of Tuesday, 11 of the 16 containers had beached. HM Coastguard reports that a helicopter and an aircraft have been carrying out searches for the missing containers.

 

 

Police, customs authorities, and the Receiver of Wrecks have warned beachcombers not to eat the bananas or to take them home.  But local people have interpreted prevailing Wrecks and Salvage law in a more free market fashion, and have helped themselves to the bananas, rather than see them going to waste.

Even after five days at sea, what were green and unripe bananas when washed overboard have now ripened despite the cold conditions. True to the spirit of journalistic inquiry, your correspondent can attest that seawater has not degraded the taste of the bananas, with the only threats to health posed by skin slippage and by eating too many of them.

 

Bananas ended up driven inland as the storm continued (CJRC)

 

Due to the stormy and windy weather in the Selsey area, bananas have been swept off the beach into coastal roads, making for slippery driving conditions in some areas.

Shipping in the port of Southampton, which was delayed on Saturday, December 6, has now resumed. The port was operating, however, with a single lane for shipping as the authorities worked to locate the containers. The P&O Cruises ship Iona held overnight at her berth in Southampton, has now reached Tenerife, the first stop on its somewhat curtailed cruise.  

The Baltic Klipper was shifted into Portsmouth on Monday night. Pictures show additional toppled containers still aboard the ship.

 

 

Members of the British government have been calling for strong efforts to ensure the shipping company and its insurers will pay the costs of the cleanup. Seatrade, which operates the vessel, said its insurers are fully engaged in the process, and in the meantime, volunteers are scouring the beaches, aiding in the cleanup (and possibly taking a few bananas home as a reward).