No people injured, no pollution reported, total loss of 16 cargo containers
The Danish Maritime Accident Investigation Board has issued marine accident report on EUGEN MAERSK which caught fire on 18 June 2013 in the Gulf of Aden resulting in total loss of 16 cargo containers. No persons were injured in the fire. There wasno pollution and only limited damage to theship’s structure. Thefire was extinguished on 23 June 2013.
The DMAIB’s main focus in this investigationhas been the significance of learning frommanaging adverse situations, organizationalflexibility and adaptability, and the challengesship crews face when dealing with theireveryday tasks. The report issued on April 2014 includes a summary ofthese findings.
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Cause and origin of fire Investigations into the causes and origin of thefire have revealed two likely main scenarios: 1) The fire started as a result of frictionheat created by the collapse of thecontainer stacks. This ignited thecontents of the containers and the firedeveloped from there. 2) The fire was initiated at an early stage,perhaps even before the containerswere loaded on board. After havingslowly smouldered for a long time, thecollapse of the containers created asudden burst of oxygen which madethe fire flare up and develop In both scenarios the collapse of containers isconsidered a major contributing factor to thefire. |
The DMAIB’s investigation has revealednothing to significantly support one of theanalyses of the direct cause of fire in favour ofthe other. However, the collapse of containerstacks contributed to the fire starting ordeveloping.
The reason for the collapse ofcontainers leading up to the fire was mostlikely a combination of multiple factors,including the structural integrity of thecontainers, the weather conditions, the stackweights, the lashings and dynamic forcesacting on the ship.
As containers are not weighed upon loading, itis uncertain whether some stack loadsexceeded the maximum acceptable load andthus could have contributed to the collapse ofthe container stacks.
Given the fact that adeck officer normally does not know thecriteria based on which the loading computergives its results, he or she has no reason toquestion the output unless, of course, there isphysical evidence to suggest problems
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Preventative Measures Taken Following this and other similar incidents, the company has equipped vessels with speciallydesigned tools/fittings that ease fixing of fire hoses and nozzles. Compared to either holding thehoses manually or improvising fixtures, these devices are considered by crews to be quite animprovement for prolonged firefighting operations and anti-piracy measures alike |
More details may be found by reading DMAIB Summary Report on EUGEN MAERKS fire (please click at image below to download)
