On 10 Jan 1992, the container ship Evergreen Ever Laurel lost 12 containers in the North Pacific, including one holding 28,800 plastic bath toys.

The toys—later dubbed the “Friendly Floatees”—drifted worldwide for decades, helping scientists map ocean currents. Some reached Alaska within 10 months, later appearing in the Arctic, the US East Coast, the UK, and across Asia and Australia.

The incident also exposed the long-term impact of plastic pollution and inspired the book Moby-Duck.

For the freight industry, the case underscores key lessons in risk management, cargo insurance (total loss vs. general average), environmental liability, and the need for stricter reporting—an issue raised at the International Maritime Organization. It also highlights operational risks such as improper stuffing, lashing, and mis-declared weights, while contributing valuable data for ocean current and shipping lane modeling.