Latest MOL Press Release
Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (MOL; President: Koichi Muto) updates the status of the containership MOL Comfort as of 23:00 JST (18:00 Dubai time) on June 24, 2013. The vessel could not continue sailing under its own power from June 17 because the hull fractured in 2 parts while under way on the Indian Ocean.
Vessel
The fore and aft parts are drifting near 15’25″N 67’53″E and 13’48″N 64’50″E respectively in an east-northeast direction. The weather at the site is still adverse.
Containers
Some of the containers were lost, but majority of the cargo are confirmed to be aboard the fore and aft part.
Rescue of the cargo and hulls
We have contracted with a salvage company and are proceeding to rescue the cargo and hulls. One patrol boat and three tugboats have arrived at the site on June 24. Total of five boats including one more boat which is expected to arrive on June 26 will prepare for the rescue.
Oil leakage
We confirmed there is no oil film around the vessel.
Safety inspection on sister vessels
We have started an investigation of the causes together with the shipbuilder, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (hereafter MHI).
Although the cause of this incident has not been identified yet, MOL, together with MHI and the classification society (Nippon Kaiji Kyokai, ClassNK), is arranging inspection of the all six sister vessels (MOL Creation, MOL Charisma, MOL Celebration, MOL Courage, MOL Competence, MOL Commitment ) as quickly as possible.
This inspection is in addition to the one carried out by the crew during navigation. MOL also started operational precautions to reduce the stress on the hull as an interim contingency plan.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused by the incident. We take the incident very seriously and continue to devote every effort to rectify the situation at the earliest possible moment.
We will also conduct a thorough investigation to determine the cause and take company-wide measures aimed at preventing reoccurrence of such incident in the future.
Source: MOL
