Anybody lose 150 meters of gigantic hose by any chance?

The ocean is a large and mysterious place where powerful forces of nature dictate global weather patterns and lifeforms still unknown to humans thrive. You really never know what you’re liable to find down there until it washes up on a beach near you.

Earlier this month, residents of the town of Shiga in Ishikawa Prefecture were surprised to find a massive stretch of hose roughly two meters (6.6 feet) in diameter, 150 meters (164 feet) long, and weighing in at 300 tonnes due to its iron reinforcement. Locals reported being extremely creeped out by the hose, with some thinking it was some kind of weapon at first.

▼ A news report showing the hose

The markings on the hose indicate it was made by Zebung, an industrial hose manufacturer based in Hengshui, China, but the owner is unknown. Zebung boasts customers in over 50 countries, so it could have come from anywhere. The hose’s label also explains that it’s used for dredging, likely sucking up sand and sediment from the ocean floor to make waterways deep enough for shipping, reclaim land, or combat coastal erosion.

These types of hoses are designed to be very buoyant as they have to transport heavy amounts of material. As you can see in the video above, the thick sections of the hose are filled with foam to keep them afloat, and the thinner metal parts are used to link sections together.

▼ This video shows a reporter standing next to the hose for a sense of scale.

It’s unclear what happened in this case, but possibly a large storm caused one of these hoses to break free, and their buoyant design allowed it to float around the ocean freely for who knows how long. Last December, there were reports of such a hose drifting in the ocean.

However, where it came from isn’t nearly as concerning to residents as how they’re going to get rid of this thing. The removal process started on 15 June and is expected to take until autumn to complete, for a total cost of 50 million yen (US$315,000). Luckily, there are national subsidies for the removal of beached debris, but this will still leave Ishikawa Prefecture on the hook for about two million yen ($13,000).

People from all over Japan expressed their surprise in online comments, and some offered creative solutions on how to deal with the hose.

“It’s monstrously huge. Is stuff like that just floating around in the ocean?”
“It looks like one of those sandworms from Tremors.”
“Things like this shouldn’t just break off and drift around so easily. It could cause an accident.”
“Can they just sell it? It seems partly usable.”
“We sent a lot of debris to America after the Tohoku Earthquake. It’s a problem we all have to deal with.”
“It’s made of metal, isn’t it? Just let whoever keeps stealing metal come and deal with it.”
“Is that a piece of the Macross?”
“Why don’t they let some artists do something with it for free and turn it into a tourist attraction?”
“I’ll remove that for 50 million yen.”
“The one time we need those metal thieves, where are they?”

Long-time readers will likely recall numerous incidents of thieves stealing all kinds of metal objects, from urinal grates and fire hose nozzles to entire stretches of guard rail. With certain people out there going to great lengths to pilfer some scrap metal to sell, it’s actually not that far-fetched to expect someone to try and get their hands on this hose or at least parts of it. Still, that’s hardly an ideal solution as scrap metal thieves can’t really be trusted to take this huge thing away with the proper care and consideration for the local environment or people’s property. 

Hopefully, whoever did lose this piece of equipment will step forward and help out. They must know who they are, since it’s not like a 300-tonne piece of hose just breaks off and floats away into the ocean every day.

It…doesn’t, right?

Source: The Sankei Shimbun,  FNN Online Prime, My Game News Flash, Zebung
Top image: Pakutaso
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