A consignment of cargo that was stored and not properly declared was suspected to be the cause of a fire on board a cargo ship.
What happened?
The cargo ship APL Austria, a 300m container vessel caught fire last month and was forced to dock at the Port of Ngqura while it was en-route to Cape Town.
The final mop-up operations reportedly completed.
Dangers of mis-declared cargo:
SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) technical adviser Captain Daron Burgess said the suspected cause of the fire was an inorganic compound, calcium hypochlorite that had been stored below deck.
It had not been declared as such on the ship’s manifest.
The “misdeclaring” of cargo, according to the latest Samsa annual report, has been identified as a safety risk which has been a plaguing problem in the maritime industry.
Calcium hypochlorite is mainly used as a bleaching agent in products such as chlorine.
“It is suspected that calcium hypochlorite which was mis-declared and stowed below deck in the No.4 cargo hold,” Burgess said.
“However, a final report from fire experts has not yet been released so this cannot be confirmed at this stage.”
Crew unaware:
He said a preliminary investigation revealed that the ship’s crew were unaware of the nature of the cargo.
More than 100 other containers were damaged and had to be off-loaded as a result of the blaze.
“After high-pressure cleaning is done, we will be able to see the full extent of the damage to the vessel,” Burgess said.
The ship is likely to sail by Monday.
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Source: HeraldLIVE
