Blaze aboard ship extinguished

Several containers still smouldering amid salvage and mop-up operations

SALVAGE and mop-up operations are in full swing at the Port of Ngqura as three days of fighting a fire on board the APL Austria came to an end yesterday. The 300m container vessel docked at the port on Monday following a distress call.

Since then, smoke has billowed from the vessel while several teams of firefighters and fire specialists worked around the clock to extinguish the blaze.

But port officials confirmed yesterday that the fire in the ship’s hull and on its deck had been extinguished.

Due to the amount of water used to extinguish the fire, the cargo hold from where the fire originated was filled with water that reached a height of 12m – equivalent to that of four containers.

An international hazardous fire expert from London, and five fire technicians from Austria were flown in earlier this week to assess the damage.

While the exact amount of damage is unknown, experts confirmed that the ship’s structure remained intact as the fire was confined to only one section of its hull.

Transnet management confirmed that both the mop-up and salvage operations would continue all week.

Port manager Mpumi DwebaKwetana said the fire had been extinguished but was still being closely monitored.

SA Maritime Safety Authority regional head Captain Nigel Campbell said they were launching a joint probe with the Liberian marine authority.

It was established yesterday that one of the containers had been packed full of candles, which had since melted.

“Contents of burnt [and] damaged containers which were discharged are being de-stuffed into skips ashore,” he said.

“The burnt and damaged containers will be moved off site [today].”

By yesterday morning, Campbell said, a total of 281 containers of the more than 3 000 on board had been taken off the ship to make space for personnel to work.

Municipal spokesman Mthubanzi Mniki, commenting on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay fire department, said most of the municipal team had withdrawn from the scene.

Only a small team and a rescue pump were being used to assist.

“There are still some containers smouldering on the ship. The process of the cranes removing the smouldering containers from the ship is a slow [one],” he said.

No timeline as to when the operation would be completed could be given.