On 4 January 2020, the containership knows as “Cosco Pacific” reported unexpectedly fire in its cargo hold containers. Specifically, the vessel was en route from Port Klang Malaysia to Ngava Sheva western India when the fire started and had to reroute.
Following recent alerts by IUMI concerning the frequency of fires onboard containerships and their impact on the shipping industry, the “Cosco Pacific” interrupted its scheduled voyage and turn its destination to Colombo in order to be inspected.
With the vessel arriving at Colombo on 6 January, containers on fire had been offloaded while several inspections were conducted.
Although the fire had been controlled, the extent reasons of the incident remain unknown as the ship is still under constant monitoring.
According to AIS information, “Cosco Pacific”has left Port of Klang on 3 January and for the moment remains moored at Colombo Port while its program is going to be delayed under notice.
For the records, the containership’s original port calling schedule after Port Klang was Nhava Sheva, Shekou, Ningbo and Shanghai.
Concluding, container fires onboard have been on the spotlight several times in the past. During the last SAFETY4SEA Singapore Forum, Ashok Srinivasan, Manager in Maritime Technology/ Regulation Department, BIMCO, gave an insight on container ship fires in order to tackle the problem and prevent such accidents.
