Second Maersk ship fire brought under control with no harm to crew

The Danish company reported that a container had caught fire in a cargo hold on the 6,200 teu Maersk Kensington, which is owned and operated by its US subsidiary Maersk Line Ltd.

All 26 crew members are safe and the fire has been contained.

The latest incident comes a day after Maersk said it would stop stowing dangerous cargo close to a ship’s accommodation block or engine casing until the cause of the deadly fire on Maersk Honam is known.

That ship was badly damaged in the blaze that killed five crew members, with firefighters still working to extinguish the fire completely.

The latest incident occurred on Thursday as the ship headed from Salalah, Oman, towards Suez.

Maersk said the crew reacted swiftly and as per procedure, by release of CO2 into the cargo hold to contain the fire.

The cause of the container fire is currently unknown. However, initial investigation indicate there is no link between the cargo in the cargo hold where the fire began on Maersk Kensington and the cargo in the cargo hold which caught fire on Maersk Honam on March 6, the company said in a statement.

The US-flag, 2007-built vessel is carrying 3518 containers, equivalent to 5616 teu.

Source: Lloyd’s List