Salvage Teams Continue to Fight Fires on Two Boxships at Sea
Salvage teams are continuing to work on two different containership fires. Both Seaspan, as the owner of the Espirito Santo Express, and HMM updated on the status of their vessels, highlighting the difficulties the industry faces from fires at sea.
A spokesperson for HMM told The Maritime Executive that the firefighting operations aboard the HMM Platinum are “in the final dampening-down stage. Once the fire is fully extinguished, the vessel is scheduled to proceed to a near port to conduct follow-up measures and investigations.”
The company emphasizes that all 24 crewmembers are safe. The vessel continues, however, to indicate on its AIS transmissions that it is under “Restricted Manoeuvrability” and moving at less than 1 knot. The ship had approached Durban and continued to show it as its destination, but it appears to have moved further out to sea based on the AIS data. The HMM spokesperson told us that the “vessel attempted to proceed to a port in South Africa but is currently remaining offshore due to adverse weather conditions.” Tugs are reported to be standing by as a precaution.
The 63,000 dwt ship departed Kattupalli International Container Terminal in India on September 27 and was reported to have approximately 2,300 TEU aboard, according to the claims consultants. The ship was scheduled to proceed on a month-long crossing to Santos, Brazil, and the reports indicate the fire began while the ship was south of Lavanono, Madagascar, around the beginning of the month. The ship has been holding east of South Africa for approximately two weeks or more, planning on proceeding to a port of refuge.
At the same time, reports indicate that salvage teams reached the containership Espirito Santo Express (132,789 dwt), which had been abandoned by its crew on October 15 in the middle of the South Atlantic more than 1,000 miles from Brazil. The ship, which was built in 2018, is reported to have a capacity of 11,800 TEU and was operating under charter to Hapag-Lloyd, shared with Ocean Network Express (ONE).
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Seaspan, the vessel’s owner, reports that smoke, and subsequently the fire, was observed emanating from cargo located in the cargo bay area, forward of the accommodation block. It reports that active measures are underway to stabilize the vessel with on-site firefighting operations.
Hapag-Lloyd advised customers that the full extent of the incident and its potential impact on the vessel and cargo remain under assessment. It repeated Seaspan’s statement that the focus is on managing the incident and stabilizing the vessel. Hapag said it is not yet possible to determine when detailed information would be available about cargo damage.
