The Coast Guard worked with port partners to identify shipping containers with undeclared hazardous materials following a container fire at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.
At approximately 8:20 p.m. PST on March 4, watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach received a report of a shipping container on fire. The container was due to be loaded on a vessel sailing for China on March 10.
The Los Angeles Fire Department extinguished the fire. However, those efforts were complicated because the container was not marked as carrying hazardous materials. The bill of lading for the container indicated that it was carrying “synthetic resins.” Further investigation revealed that it actually held about 18,000 pounds of used lithium-ion batteries, which are a regulated hazardous material.
