The Transport Accident Investigation Committee (TAIC) is now analyzing a fire incident on a fishing trawler in its accommodation space, with the crews’ attempts being unsuccessful on extinguishing the fire, leading to much of the accommodation being burnt out.
The Bahamas-flagged car carrier “RCC Passion” suffered an engine room fire, while sailing some 40 nautical miles of the French island Ushant, situated at the southwest end of the English Channel, the French Maritime Prefecture for the Atlantic informed.
On November 27, Wednesday, a fire erupted on a petrochemical plant in Port Neches, Texas, resulting to the injury of two plant employees and one contractor, who were transmitted to the Southeast Texas Regional Medical Centre and to Memorial Hermann in Houston for treatment.
Builders of a specialized fireboat for Port Canaveral have released details about the high-tech vessel, which will provide marine firefighting and rescue capabilities for the Port and surrounding communities. The vessel will offer enhanced fire protection and response time capabilities to serve expanding maritime and commercial space industry operations at the Port.
A fire took place in the engine room of the seismic vessel Polar Marquis on November 11, off Senegal. No injuries were reported, with GC Rieber Shipping, who is managing the ship, informing that the fire has been put out.
ABS launched the “Guide for Fire-Fighting Systems for Cargo Areas of Container Carriers”, presenting a number of notations with guidelines, addressing firefighting and safety systems of cargo holds of container vessels, the location of a series of high-profile fires onboard.
The National Transportation Safety Board launched an accident report focusing on the sinking of the towing vessel Jacob Kyle Rusthoven which caught fire prior to being entirely lost in the sea; The Safety Board suggests that what caused the fire was an engine lube oil leak which ignited off a hot surface near the starboard main engine turbocharger.
Container fires may now be occurring on a weekly basis and in Gard’s experience most are associated with cargo misdeclaration. However just as with tackling the fire itself, tackling misdeclaration is a significant industry challenge. Thus, Mark Russell, Vice President, Head of Cargo Claims in London and Charmaine Chu, Claims Executive in Hong Kong discuss the severity of cargo misdeclaration and the impact it has in the shipping market.
The shipping industry has witnessed many fire incidents on container ships this year, some of which have resulted to fatalities and others to economic losses; Thus, IUMI, in a recent forum, took the chance to alert on the situation and call the shipping industry to improve its existent onboard firefighting systems and seafarers’ training, as both seem to lack of efficiency in these challenging times.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority issues an alert concerning a small fire that erupted in the battery room onboard Ytterøyningen passenger ferry and provides recommendations on dealing with unsafe situations onboard vessels.
