The cause of the fire on board the ‘COSCO Shipping Thames’, a 9000 TEU containership, is still being determined after the ship raised the alarm on August 23, 2018.
Both a statement from logistics company BDP International and ocean carrier line Hapag-Lloyd, which had 32 containers on board, confirmed that the vessel caught fire during a voyage to Singapore but that there was no damage to containers.
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The fire, which was quickly taken under control and extinguished by the crew, meant the ship had to stay in Singapore for CO2 cylinder refilling before leaving on August 29 for Yangshan Port near Shanghai.
Because of the delays, Hapag Lloyd has said that it expects the ship to bypass its scheduled calling at Hong Kong.
In a service update on its website, Hapag-Lloyd said: “We regret to inform you that on August 23, 2018 a dense smoke was detected in hold number 4 of MV “COSCO Shipping Thames” voyage 6E.
“The crew activated the fire extinguisher system and now the fire is under control.
“We very much regret any inconvenience caused, which in this case is beyond our control.”
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