After a fire broke out on the the deck of the Yantian Express, on 3 January, Hapag Lloyd informed that a decision was made to evacuate the crew. The decision was made because the fire has not been successfully contained. All of the crew are safe.
Due to bad weather conditions, the fire has not been successfully contained yet and has significantly increased in intensity at times. Namely, despite the firefighting support from the salvage tug ‘Smit Nicobar’, the fire has not been extinguished yet.
For this reason, the crew was evacuated. All of the crewmembers were safely transferred to the ‘Smit Nicobar’ on 5 and 6 January.
Further developments of the situation on the Yantian Express are being monitored closely, and the firefighting efforts with the salvage tug are ongoing
Currently, Hapag Lloyd cannot make a precise estimate of any damage to Yantian Express or its cargo. At present, the ship is 800 nautical miles off the coast of Canada.
The fire broke out in one of the containers on board the container ship Yantian Express and spread to additional containers.
Immediately, efforts were launched to put out the fire. However, they had to be stopped because of a deterioration of weather conditions.
The 7,510 TEU vessel, which is 320 meters long and carries the German flag, was on its way from Colombo to Halifax via the Suez Canal.
