Maersk Kampala Fire is Out

Maersk Line reports this morning that the fire on board the Maersk Kampala has finally been put out by the onboard fire-fighting teams with support from fire-fighting tugs.

In a statement on their website, Maersk Line notes, “Some smoke continues to come from some of the containers that had fire but will stop eventually with continued spraying by the tugs and flooding by the fire-fighting teams. Operational planning is now the priority, including port selection, contingency planning for cargo as well as the vessel’s eventual return to service.”

The fire started in one of the ship’s forward cargo bays on August 29th while the ship was just south of the Suez Canal and over the next few days, the ship’s crew was able to contain the flames within the forward two cargo holds.

No reports are yet available regarding the extend of the cargo damage in the affected area.

 
Maersk issued press-release on Maersk Kampala fire update on Sep 2:
The fire originated in one container at the bottom of a stack before spreading to a second container. Weather conditions until Aug 31 prevented fire fighting tugs from getting close enough to have maximum effect . As a result the fire spread from two containers to several more, but was contained in the two foremost bays. After weather improve fire fighting tugs have been able to continue soaking the area and have managed to reduce the number of containers still with fire to six, all contained in the same bays. Fire fighting team on board is extinguishing the fire inside containers by cutting open the hot containers and those nearby and flooding them with water.
No AIS signal yet, vessel most probably is anchored somewhere down south in Gulf of Suez further off from populated areas and curious eyes. Some latest news mentioned thousand containers destroyed or damaged, which seems to be an exaggeration, while Maersk reporting six containers seems to be an underestimation.