The 15,000 teu Maersk Honam, which caught fire on March 6 with the loss of five lives, is being towed to Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The ship’s cargo will be offloaded at the Dubai port.
, which Maersk’s partner in the 2M alliance, MSC, stated in a customer update: “Based on a limited amount of information to hand, MSC reasonably expects that a substantial proportion of the cargo located after, behind the ship’s accommodation area should be in sound condition. Unfortunately, we must assume, based on the details to date, that most containers located in front of the accommodation area are damaged by fire, heat or the water used to fight the fire.”
Investigations into the accident continue. The Indian Coast Guard, which was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the inferno, reckons dangerous goods being carried onboard is the most likely cause of the blaze on the one-year-old giant ship. As a precautionary measure, Maersk has stopped stowing dangerous goods by the accommodation block and engine casing across its box fleet.
