According to Arabian Industry, a mega container belonging to Maersk that was badly damaged by a fire at sea has been cut in half.
What happened?
In March 2018, the Maersk mega container ship Honam that was badly damaged by a fire at sea. Maersk Honam was underway off the coast of Oman when a fire broke out in a cargo hold forward of the accommodation block.
Five crew members were killed battling the blaze, while a further undisclosed number were damaged. The ship was abandoned and salvage tugs spent weeks trying to save the rest of the ship as it drifted in international waters in the Arabian Sea.
Once the fire was brought under control, tow lines were secured and she was brought to Jebel Ali where the surviving cargo was offloaded.
Cargo verification
Maersk Honam was carrying about 8,000 containers at the time of the fire, including an unspecified quantity of dangerous goods.
Maersk has said that all cargo on board was stowed in accordance with the IMDG code, and has since instituted random physical checks (in U.S. ports) to verify that “cargo descriptions match actual contents of the container.”
The company has also instituted new guidelines on the locations where properly-declared dangerous goods may be stowed on board, but it unclear what caused the fire.
Remodeled into a new hull
The huge aft section of the 15,000-TEU container ship cut in half at Drydocks World, Dubai, for partial scrapping. Since it remained undamaged in the accident, it was cut away and floated onto a 100,000 dwt semi-submersible heavy lift ship called Xin Guang Hua.
The heavy lift ship will carry the stern section of the Honan to Geoje, South Korea, where it will be incorporated into a new hull. The forward part of the ship containing the damaged accommodation block and bow, will be towed from Drydocks World and scrapped.
Maersk anticipates that the Hua and her cargo will arrive in March, and expects that the repairs will be completed before the end of the year.
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Source: Arabian Industry
