Port fire effects widen
A fire aboard a Korean fishing vessel has delayed the arrival of four other ships in Timaru and extended the closure of the port.
The fire, which broke on Monday evening, resulted in the port operator, PrimePort, initially closing the port until 10am Wednesday but that has since twice been extended firstly to 2pm and then 8pm.
PrimePort chief executive Phil Melhopt said they would be reviewing port operations every six hours.
‘‘We now also have three-metre southerly swells limiting our ability to receive vessels.
‘‘We will strive to resume operations as soon as safe to do so.’’
Although Melhopt did not name the delayed vessels, the port’s website lists the Searuby, San Granit, Longview Logger and Jeppesen Maersk as all due to arrive on Wednesday.
Fire crews are struggling to extinguish the blaze aboard the Dong Won 701.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) area commander Steven Greenyer said the fire is not out but under control.
‘‘We are doing everything we can to extinguish the fire and ensure public safety.’’
Greenyer said the focus ‘‘is still on cooling the sides of the ship down and we will reassess the situation in a few hours to decide whether or not we can enter the ship to start dealing with the fire from the inside’’.
He said PrimePort was operating one tug boat around the vessel to help with cooling its sides.
‘‘We are also operating one hose line inside of the ship and may look at extending that further on board when we reassess the situation.’’
All road cordons have been lifted, except the one on the road leading directly to the port’s fuel terminal.
The Dong Won 701 arrived in port on Monday morning. It was due to leave on Tuesday. It is owned by Korean fishing company Dong Won Fisheries.
DW NZ chief executive Tae Wang said on Wednesday the company was continuing to support the efforts of the emergency services, while its other priority was ‘‘looking after our crew’’ of 50 to 60.
‘‘We have been arranging for replacement clothing and toiletries that were lost in the fire as well as sorting out their accommodation needs,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, the Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) said the site investigation into the fire, conducted by a team which arrived on site on Tuesday afternoon, could take several days, while the full inquiry could take 18 months to two years.
TAIC spokesman Peter Northcote said the organisation would work with relevant authorities to determine what caused the fire.
‘‘We don’t know what we don’t know yet,’’ Northcote said.
‘‘The purpose of our inquiry is to determine whether there are any safety lessons we can learn from the event.’’
At this stage it is unknown what caused the fire, which was believed to have started somewhere in the ship’s accommodation facilities.
‘‘We should have a better idea of where we’re at by the end of the week,’’ Northcote said.