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Fire Extinguished Aboard MSC Containership Docked in Sri Lanka

containership fire
Fire teams were able to extinguish a fire and explosion aboard the MSC Capetown III (Sri Lanka Ports Authority)

Published Aug 12, 2024 9:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

 

A fire broke out early on Sunday, August 11 aboard an MSC containership while the vessel was discharging cargo at the terminal in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority is reporting with assistance from the fire department and others, that the fire was extinguished with no injuries to the crew or fire teams.

The MSC Capetown III (39,228 dwt) arrived at the Jaya Container Terminal in the Port of Colombo early on August 11 coming from Singapore. It operates on a route to East Africa that terminates in Dar es Salam, Tanzania. Built in 2006, the vessel began operating for MSC in May 2023 and its registered in Maderia.

Port officials report that the vessel which has a capacity of 2,824 TEU had already completed offloading approximately 950 boxes of a scheduled operation to discharge 995 boxes and load 880. Smoke was observed coming from the under-deck hatch near the accommodation area and the fire teams evacuated the vessel and investigated the source of the smoke. The Ports Authority reports there were approximately 100 containers under deck and a further 60 still deck loaded. The vessel was also carrying 596 TEU bound for Tanzania.

 

 

Video shows smoke coming from the vessel and the Ports Authority reports there was a subsequent explosion below deck. Fire teams can be seen spraying down the area and other containers on the dock. The affected cargo was removed from the ship and the fire was extinguished.

“At around 1:00 a.m., the temperate below deck had reached 101 degrees C (approximately 214 degrees F),” an official told the newspaper Ceylon Today. “But, through the use of CO2, they managed to reduce it to 40 degrees C (104 degrees F) by Sunday morning.”

 

Fire teams extinguished the fire and removed the affected containers (Sri Lanka Ports Authority)

 

The Ceylon Today reports the manifest showed only one dangerous cargo container listed on the manifest which was stored on deck. The Ports Authority believes it had already been offloaded. They are looking at the possibility that there was undeclared hazardous cargo aboard.

The vessel was not showing any signs of prior fire or smoke the Ports Authority reports. Officials are continuing to investigate the source of the fire. 

It comes just days after a container explored aboard a Yang Ming vessel docked in China. Chinese officials continue to look at the vessel which was carrying reported hazardous chemicals and lithium-ion batteries. Also, a vessel chartered to Maersk had a container fire in mid-July off the west coast of India. There have been no recent updates, but the vessel was being held offshore while salvage teams worked to resolve the fire that continued to smolder.