Oostzee
In July 1989, the Oostzee was on a voyage from Rotterdam through the Kiel Canal to Leningrad. The cargo in the ship's hold included barbed wire, silica sand, zinc ingots and 3913 barrels containing about 850 tons of epichlorohydrin. On the voyage from Rotterdam to the Elbe, the freighter encountered bad weather, during which some of the dangerous goods barrels slipped. In the process, about 40 barrels leaked. At the time, Günter Hollmann, a member of the "Oostzee" crisis team, said that improper storage of the toxic barrels was to blame. Contrary to the regulations, the barrels had been placed directly on the floor of the ship and had not been stacked properly.