MOL Latest 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 25, 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 part is located near 15’43″N 69’07″E. The aft part is drifting near 14’03″N 65’30″E 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. The four boats arrived at the site on June 24. We have started to tow the fore part toward Arabian Gulf. We will continue to monitor the aft part and prepare for the tow operation.
Oil leakage
We confirmed no oil film around the fore part. For the aft part, there is oil film, but there is no large volume of oil leakage confirmed.
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 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.
Source: MOL
