Hapag-Lloyd informed that salvage operations in Freeport are continuing with the discharge of fire impacted containers of Yantian Express. However, the company noted that it is not able to discharge the unaffected containers from the ship’s current location and is looking for a terminal to handle them.
The operations in Freeport also regard door end inspections of potentially damaged containers. As for the discharge of the damaged cargo, Hapag-Lloyd estimates that the discharge will last around five weeks to reach its completion.
In addition, the company is looking for options regarding the balance of the containerized cargo which is unaffected by the fire and remains in a dry and sound condition. It specifically said that right now it is not able to discharge sound cargo at the vessel’s current location, which consists of a temporary yard that is meant to handle only the distressed cargo.
What is more, while there is a containerized terminal berth near the vessel, it seems that it does not have the capacity for the sound cargo. For this reason, other options are being investigated.
A total of 198 containers onboard the ‘Yantian Express’ is estimated to be a total loss after the 7,510 TEU container ship sustained a major fire off Bermuda in early January. The ill-fated ship arrived in Freeport Bahamas last week, where she has berthed to undergo an inspection.
The fire broke out on 3 January in one of the containers onboard the ‘Yantian Express’ approximately 1,015 miles northeast of Bermuda and spread to additional containers. The ship was en route from Colombo to Halifax via the Suez Canal, at the time of the incident. There were no fatalities.
