Maersk Frankfurt, a new container ship chartered by Maersk, suffered a fire in the Arabian Sea on July 19, 2024.At the time of the incident, the ship was sailing from Mundra to Colombo. It was carrying some dangerous goods and had a total of 21 crew members, one of whom unfortunately died in the accident.
It is reported that the ship was deployed by Maersk on the India-Pakistan route FI3, involving multiple shipping companies such as ONE, Emirates, and X-PRESS. In June, it successively called at domestic ports such as Tianjin, Dalian, Ningbo, and Qingdao, but the first voyage has not yet been completed.
According to the Indian Coast Guard, despite the extreme adverse monsoon conditions, with the joint efforts of multiple teams, rescuers successfully extinguished the main fire on the "Maersk Frankfurt" on the fifth day of the fire.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) also posted an update on X on the 24th, saying that the firefighting operation entered the sixth day and that it was dealing with sporadic fires in smoldering containers.
The report said there were 1,154 containers on board.However, there are still embers inside the container and there is a risk of re-ignition,
According to local reports, the ship was carrying a number of dangerous goods, including benzene and sodium cyanate, which could be dangerous if leaked.
Insurance claims consultant WK Webster said recently that following the initial report, the owners of the Maersk Frankfurt had declared general average due to the fire. Therefore, all cargo owners are required to provide a general average guarantee before the goods are delivered.
This means that all cargo owners with goods on "Maersk Frankfurt" are also jointly responsible and must provide a general average guarantee before they can get the goods.
"The vessel is reported to be in stable condition and all machinery, steering and navigation equipment are functioning normally," Maersk said in a statement to the media on Wednesday. At this time, we are unable to confirm the extent of the fire's impact on the cargo. We maintain close liaison with shipowners and ship managers