Three shipping containers fell from a vessel into the water at the Port of Los Angeles on Tuesday, September 15, forcing the U.S. Coast Guard to establish a 400-yard safety zone while crews worked to secure the area. The incident happened near Berth 302 during container cargo operations, with Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach watchstanders alerted at about 11:20 a.m.

One of the three 40-foot containers has been recovered. The other two remain submerged, though their locations have been identified and marked, and the ship’s manifest lists the cargo as non-hazardous. Los Angeles City Fire and Los Angeles Port Police joined the Coast Guard response. Imagery from the scene points to the containership APL Dublin, but the Coast Guard has not formally identified the vessel or said what caused the containers to fall.

The loss comes almost exactly a year after a much larger incident at the neighboring Port of Long Beach, where 95 containers went overboard from the containership Mississippi at Pier G in September 2025. That accident required more than two weeks of salvage work involving divers, side-scan sonar and remotely operated vehicles. Submerged containers can pose a hazard to navigation until they are located and recovered.

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