You are probably as tired as I am of our industry being hammered for our supposed environmental indiscretions. None of us deny that we have had accidents. We did not want them, nor are most the result of scheming or neglect. As an industry, I believe we have cleaned up our environmental act a lot faster and a lot more thoroughly than most industries. This makes the outrage all the more acute when we learn of other industries who have discharged dangerous substances into the oceans and not only got away with it, but became sort of minor celebrities for doing it.

I refer, of course, to the infamous Nike incident. On May 27, 1990, the freighter Hansa Carrier was caught in a violent storm in the North Pacific while heading for the United States from Korea. A number of shipping containers were washed overboard, among them five containers holding about 80,000 pairs of Nike shoes. Four of the containers were apparently sufficiently damaged to spill their contents - some 60,000 pairs of Nike shoes - into the Pacific. But that is only the tip of the iceberg.

On Jan. 10, 1992, another vessel crossing the North Pacific from Hong Kong to Tacoma, Wash., lost a dozen containers in a similar storm. According to reports, the containers released approximately 29,000 bath toys, including rubber duckies, turtles, frogs and beavers.

So the scenario thus far includes 60,000 Nike shoes drifting around the Pacific followed by a horde of rubber duckies and friends in hot pursuit. After about 10 months, in each case, these items began to drift ashore along the northeast coast of the United States and Canada.

Of course only a portion of the lost shipments came ashore. Some were caught in circular currents and came ashore on other continents. Some still drift, a forlorn collection of abandoned duckies and mismatched trainers. Some, along with objects from other spills, may be caught in moving polar ice and eventually end up on the coast of Northern Europe. No one knows how many might have been consumed by large fish and aquatic mammals, nor how many may have simply sunk and added to the growing collection of refuse on the sea floor.

Scientists, of course, were quick to realize potential in the drifting menagerie. They began to track ocean currents by recording landing places of duckies and shoes. In fact, a whole cottage industry seems to have developed around the world's floating debris, so if you should find a Nike on the beach, check the serial number on the insole then contact the nearest oceanographic institute.

Lest you are beginning to wonder if I am out of my mind again, let me point out that this stuff floating around in the world's oceans is not, for the most part, biodegradable nor is it benign. And it is everywhere - and a pair of athletic shoes can float for 10 years.

But here is the good stuff. More than 10,000 containers are lost overboard each year. Each container can hold 2,560 cu ft (58,000 lbs) of cargo. That is the equivalent (volume-wise) of 4.6 million bbl of oil being spilled into the seas every year. Of course, it is not oil, so you, and I and the rest of the public never hear of these - apparently - acceptable losses. Funny how that works isn't it?

We are happy to launch a new department this month. On page 16 of this issue, you will find the new Risk Report page prepared for us by Control Risks Group. In a world and an industry in which risks multiply every day, we felt our readers should have as much information about specific risks as we could bring them. Each month, we will profile another risk category or area of high risk. We hope this is a help to you.



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