Tokio Express

Tokio Express off Calshot in 1988
History
Name	Tokio Express (1973?1984) Scandutch Edo (1984?1986) Tokio Express (1986?2000)
Operator	Hapag-Lloyd [1]
Port of registry	Hamburg [1]
Builder	Blohm + Voss , Hamburg [1]
Yard number	878 [1]
Laid down	12 January 1971 [1]
Launched	2 November 1972 [1]
Completed	12 April 1973 [1]
In service	1973-2000
Identification	IMO number :  7232822 [1]
Fate	Scrapped 10 January 2000, Jiangyin , China
General characteristics
Class and type	Hamburg Express-Class (1973) Container ship
Tonnage	58,082  GRT [1] 49,532  DWT [1]
Length	287.6 metres (944 ft) [1]
Beam	32.3 metres (106 ft) [1]
Installed power	Stal-Laval AP-40 turbo electric steam turbine. Output: 81,131 horsepower (60,499 kW) [1]
Propulsion	1 × fixed-pitch propeller [1]
Speed	23 kn (43 km/h; 26 mph) [1]

Tokio Express was a container ship , built and registered in Hamburg in 1973 for Hapag-Lloyd . ^[1] In 1984 she was renamed Scandutch Edo before being acquired by Pol Gulf International in 1993 and restored to her original name. ^[1] In 1997, she was acquired by Westwind International and in 1999, by Falani, before being broken up for scrap in 2000. ^[1]

Tokio Express is best known for being hit by a rogue wave on 13 February 1997 that caused her to lose cargo, including one cargo container loaded with 4.8 million pieces of Lego . Ever since, Lego pieces including octopuses, dragons, flippers and flowers have been washing up on Cornwall beaches and are commonly found after storms. ^{[2] [3]}

The ship [ edit ]

Tokio Express was one of four Trio class container ships built for Hapag-Lloyd by Blohm + Voss in the early 1970s. These were all 3,000- TEU class ships. The first of these was Hamburg Express , which was followed by Bremen Express , Tokio Express and finally Hongkong Express . ^[4]

The ships were originally powered by twin-screw. During the 1980s they all underwent a refit that included conversion to single screw propulsion, while retaining one of the turbines. ^{[5] [6]}

After changing hands several times as Hapag-Lloyd upgraded their fleet, Tokio Express was eventually scrapped in 2000. The name, with the English spelling, has since been re-used for a similar sized but much more modern container ship, launched in 2000. ^[7]

Accident [ edit ]

While en route from Rotterdam to New York City on 13 February 1997, Tokio Express was hit by a rogue wave about 20 miles (32 km) off Land's End . She tilted 60 degrees one way, then 40 degrees back, losing 62 containers overboard. She put in at Southampton for attention after the accident. ^{[2] [8]}

One of the lost containers held just under 5 million Lego pieces. Coincidentally, a large portion of these were destined for toy kits depicting sea adventures, ^[9] in lines including Lego Pirates and Lego Aquazone . Among the pieces were 418,000 swimming flippers, 97,500 scuba tanks, 26,600 life preservers, 13,000 spear guns, and 4,200 octopuses. ^[10] Sea grass, cutlasses and dragons were also well-represented. ^[2]

As late as 2024, ^[11] 27 years after the accident sometimes known as the Great Lego Spill, ^{[12] [13]} people in England, Belgium, and Ireland were still finding octopuses, dragons, diver flippers, and other plastic pieces washed ashore and caught in fishermen's nets. ^{[14] [2]} Pieces may have travelled much further; a Dutch shipping clerk started an inventory which now has active participants in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas looking for the arrival of more pieces. ^[9]

See also [ edit ]

• Hansa Carrier
• Friendly Floatees
• Curtis Ebbesmeyer
• Marine plastic pollution

References [ edit ]

External links [ edit ]

• Lego Lost at Sea