The BBC Box returns to the U.K.

"The BBC Box", NYKU8210506 ends it's journey.

From The BBC

The Box has now arrived back in Southampton, just over a year after it left last September.

Since then, the global economy stopped growing for the first time in 60 years, with poor countries particularly severely hit.

Global trade sank like a stone, for periods at least taking our Box with it.

From April until July it sat forlornly (if containers can be forlorn) in Yokohama.

It was just one tiny part of the statistic that the container business made a collective profit of £3bn in 2008, but is estimated to have lost a cool £20bn in 2009.

click here for link to article

Tracking the BBC Box

The BBC Box is onboard NYK Virgo, Voyage 14. It left Singapore on Oct. 5th, and is due in Southampton, UK, Oct. 21st.

It started out in Laem Chabang, Thailand, on Sept. 29th, on the NYK PHOENIX/045, and was transshipped in Singapore.

It is carrying canned dog food (or, as the Brits say, tinned dog food)

click here for link to NYK tracking site.

Input the container number, prefix and number (no spaces).

NYKU8210506

The BBC Box is on it's way to the UK

From The BBC


The Box has left Thailand on its final journey back to Southampton, due to arrive 21 October. Current cargo is tinned dogfood

Update - The BBC Box

The box has arrived at it's destination, and is now up for devanning.

From the NYK tracking site

AUG-24-2009 22:00

Devanning for delivery

Laem Chabang, THA

The BBC Box onboard M/V Ratana Thida voyage 230

The BBC Box left Yokohama, Japan on Aug. 15.

It's onboard the vessel Ratana Thida voyage230, due into Laem Chabang, Thailand, on Aug. 23rd.

The BBC tracking site is being manually updated, so we can't use it to be certain of the current location of the ship.

I will try and check the NYK vessel schedule, but right now the schedule is unavailable. I often have problems getting to their vessel schedule. Perhaps someone at NYK can look into that.

The BBC Box is on the move!

Finally. The BBC box is leaving Japan.

The BBC has an article giving details of some of the problems experienced in Japan.

Japan is a rather difficult country in which to do business. They have very tight import regulations.

From The BBC

...customs staff (in Japan) took a keener interest than anticipated and requested additional duties be paid as a result of the satellite transceiver equipment (a tracking device) inside the Box.

But, it's finally on the move

On Saturday, 15 August it will finally leave Yokohama with a consolidated cargo bound for Thailand, where it is due to arrive the following weekend.

click here for link to complete article

The BBC Box still not moving

It's still sitting empty in Japan.

To check for yourself,

click here for NYK tracking site

Input this number (letter and numbers, no spaces)

NYKU8210506

The BBC Box to be on the move

The BBC has an update on the BBC Box

"Although we've had a longer than anticipated layover in Japan, we think the Box will be on the move shortly, probably to Thailand.

Included in the article is the sad state of the container industry.

The figures are quite sobering.

The container business made a collective profit of $5 billion (£3bn) in 2008. It is likely to make a loss of up to $20 billion this year," according to Richard Meade, news editor of the industry bible Lloyd's List.

All I have to say is "wow".

click here for link to BBC article

The BBC Box empty for 2 months

I guess The BBC has abandoned the project. The tracking device kept breaking down, and since world trade is down dramatically, it's not so easy to find cargo to move in the container.

You can keep checking the status of the container. The last record was returned empty May 19, 2009 in Yokohama, Japan.

Input the prefix (the letters) and numbers, no spaces.

NYKU8210506.

click here for NYK tracking

The BBC Box is abandoned

I don't know for sure the BBC box has been abandoned, but it certainly is being neglected.

It has been empty in Japan for about 3 weeks now, since May 19.

Click here for the latest update from NYK tracking site

Input the container number, prefix and number, no spaces

NYKU8210506

The BBC hasn't had any reporting since the container arrived in Japan.

I am also a bit disappointed they did not have information as to the destination of the contents of the container and it's use, but instead did a report about the general economy of Japan.

Guess I will e-mail the BBC to find out what's going on.

The BBC Box delivered in Japan

The BBC Box, NYKU8210506 was picked up and returned empty on May 19, 2009 from the port in Yokohama, Japan.

From the NYK Tracking Site

Status As Of Event Location Mode
MAY-19-2009 10:57

Empty container returned to carrier at destination

Yokohama, JPN

Truck

Event Date Event Location Mode
MAY-19-2009 09:05

Picked up for delivery at destination

Yokohama, JPN

The BBC has not made any comment as to who the receiver is in Japan.

BBC - story regarding "The Box" arrival in Japan

The BBC has an article and video after the arrival of "The Box" in Yokohama, Japan.

However, they still don't make any mention of how the car parts destined for Russia will get to the destination. They only mention "food stuffs" for Japan.

click here for link

BBC container unloads in Yokohama, Japan

The BBC Box discharged in Japan on 28 April 2009

NYKU8210506

APR-28-2009 14:07 Discharged from vessel at last port of discharge Yokohama, JPN NYK CLARA/107

Moves to Date Event Location Mode
APR-28-2009 13:20 Vessel Arrival Yokohama, JPN NYK CLARA/107

Update the BBC Box - left Hong Kong

The BBC Box left Hong Kong on 23 April 2009 onboard the M/V NYK Clara Voyage 107

click here for the NYK tracking site.

Input the container number if you want to check it yourself.

NYKU8210506

The vessel should arrive in Yokohama in a couple of days. The schedule portion of the NYK web-site is down at the moment. I will check it later.

The BBC explains problems with tracking "The Box"

The BBC explains problems with tracking The BBC Box, NYKU8210506

The short version is the tracker quit working, more than once. They thought they could update the tracking manually if that happened, but turns out it was too much work (ha! Welcome to the world of international shipping!)

Here is some of their long explanation.

As you know we've had some persistent problems with the tracking of the container which have been frustrating for many of you and for which I'd like to apologise.

"We attached a tracking device to the container at the start of the project [an Inmarsat C transceiver kit for those keen to know the technical details].

"Unfortunately the device developed intermittent problems, so when the container arrived in New Jersey late last year we removed the device and it was returned to the UK for repair before being shipped back to Brazil and re-attached to the Box.

It worked for a while but now we have lost the signal again. As part of our planning for this project we had a system in place to switch to the appropriate individual ship's tracking devices in the event of such a fault.

Whilst that has been possible it has required greater resources than we have available to manually carry out this process over such a long period. Our contingency planning allowed only for short periods of a faulty transceiver and not the seemingly intractable problems we have encountered.

But, at least they attempt to give us an idea of the future track of this container.
They say it will go to Russia, so I can only guess that the some of the cargo will be removed in Japan and the box will continue onward. If this is correct then the shipper on the ocean bill of lading is probably a freight forwarder, or consolidator (some thing, different names).

Here's what the BBC has to say, without committing to a time line.

The Box is currently in Hong Kong en route to Japan. From there we expect it to travel to Russia before a final return to the UK in June/July. We hope to bring television, radio and online reports from each of those locations and we will attempt to manually update the position as frequently as we are able.

Where is the BBC Box?

Where is the BBC Box, NYKU8210506?

Short answer, discharged in Hong Kong APR-17-2009 01:08

See my other blog posts for estimated oncarriage vessel and arrival in Yokohama, Japan.
(click here)

On a lighter note, when I googled "where is the BBC Box" I ran across this tongue in cheek (meaning, not serious) article, which I just had to pass along.


This is how it begins,

BBC Box abandoned, broken up on Bengali beach

By Ryan Skinner (email)

What began as a visionary media stunt to demonstrate the complexity of global trade has ended on the rusty steel-strewn shores of India. After it became lost some time in the second-half of 2008, the BBC Box suffered a short career as contraband mule before it was abandoned and sold for scrap by an unidentified Macau-based party, reports say.

"Could this story have ended differently?", shipping industry sources ask themselves, in resignation.

click here for link to complete article

What's really not so funny is I am afraid this is close to the truth, as it appears (in my opinion) The BBC might abandon this project.

Just goes to show, international shipping really is complicated.

The BBC Box arrived in Hong Kong

Update April 18, 2009 click here

The M/V Aquitania voyage 101 arrived in Hong Kong at 16:42 on 16 April 2009.

You can check the status on the NYK web-site.

click here for the web-site

Go to the box middle of the page left, Container Tracking

Input the container prefix and number below, no spaces

NYKU8210506

The BBC Box tracking device not working

One of my alert readers advised there has not been an update to the BBC Box tracking since April 4.

I e-mailed the BBC a few weeks ago reading this project, and they advised the GPS tracking device was not working and was returned for repairs. This was their response on April 13, 2009.

Hi Lynda


Thanks for your e-mail. We apologise but we have had some gremlins with the project. We had to return the GPS tracking device to the UK for repairs and several of the key people on the project were unavoidably distracted by other major stories in the business and economics world which meant we couldn't give the project as much attention as we had hoped for a couple of months.

The tracking is now working again and the we hope to report when the Box arrives in Japan and during the final stages of the journey until we close the project in the UK this summer. There is also a new piece by Adam Mynott about the state of the global shipping trade on the site at the moment.

Thank you for your interest in the project,

Kind regards

The Box Team

I guess this is now the 2nd time the GPS system quit working, so The BBC might just throw up their hands by now.

I will keep tracking this container on the NYK web-site which can give the locations of actual land movement (on/off ships, inland movements). It's the way carriers keep track of their containers. If it's onboard a ship, they know it's not going to get lost.

It's called inventory control, ya' know.

Update on The BBC Box

Update April 14, 2009. The tracking device used by the BBC is not working, again.
See new blog post

The BBC Box is onboard the vessel Aquitania.

The Aquitania is east of Madagascar. I trust the pirates are not going after ships that far south.

The BBC Box is scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on April 16, and then transhipped onto the NYK Estrela to arrive in Yokohama on April 21.

NYKU8210506

Hong Kong APR-16 Aquitania/101

NYK ESTRELA/105 Yokohama APR-21

It is carrying goods for both Japan and Russia.

I presume either the steamship line (NYK) or the freight forwarder/consolidator will unload the container in Yokohama and then forward the goods destined for Russia by another container, and of course, another ship.

Contents - BBC "The Box"

The BBC tracking is now updated with movement of The BBC Box, and also gives it's contents as MSG (monosodium glutamate) and car parts.

There are no more details than this, but we do know it's going to Japan from Brazil.