Fire-Damaged Conro Departs for Scrapyard After Awakening Belgium
Grimaldi’s fire-damaged Conro Grande Brasile was towed from the Port of Antwerp, Belgium where it had laid for the past two months after a devastating fire in the English Channel. The hulk is being sent to scrapyards in Aliaga, Turkey for recycling, but before she left, she created one further incident in the port.
The fire broke out on the ship on February 18 shortly after it had departed Antwerp for France. By the time lifeboats from the UK’s RNLI reached the vessel, the ship reported its crew of 28 was all accounted for and there were no injuries. The fire had been contained to one deck and the onboard fire suppression system had been used. The vessel however was left drifting with rescue vessels standing by while Grimaldi made arrangements for the ship.
Later that same day, a second fire was reported and unlike in the morning, the crew was not able to contain it. It is unclear if it was a reflash from the first fire or a new incident, but the vessel was abandoned and would burn for days. It was towed into Antwerp on February 24 after the fire was extinguished.
Built in 2000, the Malta-registered 26,000 dwt ship is a Conro, a unique combination of containership and RoRo, favored by Grimaldi. The Italian shipping firm is one of the few that continues to operate this type of vessel and the company recently built more ships of this style in China.
— Bart ?????? (@BartGonnissen) April 19, 2025
Overnight on Friday, April 18 into April 19 the police in Beveren, a district near Antwerp reported they were besieged with complaints of a loud noise. Residents were not sure where it was coming from but thought it was some form of alarm.
The police finally traced it to a dock area in the Waaslandhaven. According to media reports, the wailing sound was continuous from about 0200 to 0730. It could be heard for miles based on the complaints. Alderman for the Environment Danny Van Hove explained to the HLN news what had happened.
"During the preparatory work, the ship's horn (Grande Brasile) was accidentally activated. This was apparently the only thing that still worked. However, they were unable to switch it off either. They only managed to do this hours later."
The police and local political leaders said they would continue to investigate the issue. The mayor of the region said they would investigate to make sure it does not happen again.
The hulk of Grande Brasile, however, departed the port several hours later on a tow-line. The tug Eraclea which is managing the tow is showing they are due to reach Turkey on May 16.