Moby Duck: How One Overboard Container Changed the World

2024-02-26T18:27:35+00:00September 28th, 2017|Green News, Industry Spotlight, Shipping News|

In 1992, a shipping container fell overboard as it traveled from Hong Kong across the Pacific.  No one knew that 25 years later, those 28,000 plastic rubber bath toys would lead to a much deeper understanding of earth’s ocean currents and the impact of plastic pollution.

Nicknamed the “friendly floatees” by their international audience, ducks have washed up on the shores of Hawaii and Alaska, while other were discovered stuck in Arctic ice. A few crossed where the Titanic sank near the coast of Newfoundland, and at least one is believed to have been found on a beach in Scotland.

Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a retired oceanographer, traced the ship’s movement from where it all began.  He has since been able to track the rate of progress, thanks to international support of fellow scientists and environmental enthusiasts.

Roughly 2,000 ducks have notoriously found a home in the North Pacific Gyre, a circular current that runs from Japan to Southeast Alaska, Kodiak, and the Aleutian Islands.  Specifically, in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch – a traveling island of garbage trapped by the surrounding currents.  The ducks have been key in calculating how long it takes to complete the full gyre circuit and raising awareness of the global ocean trash problem.  While international shipping is just a drop in the bucket, it is estimated that 350 to 10,000 cargo container are lost at sea every year.

Travel patterns of the Friendly Floatees. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Donovan Hohn, author of “Moby Duck: When 28,800 Bath Toys Are Lost At Sea,” immortalized the ducks’ heroic and continuous journey to spotlight plastic pollution and its longevity in marine ecosystems.

With over 11 known gyres over the world, understanding these ocean currents will help climatologists predict the effects of climate change and the impact to the environment.  But the question still remains, who is responsible for the waste floating around in our ecosystem?

Green Worldwide Shipping is committed to creating sustainable international freight forwarding solutions.

For more information on how Green contributes, read our UN Global Compact Annual Communication on Progress.

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AUTHOR

Tate Elliott

Import Specialist

Green Worldwide Shipping, LLC

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