2023-07-30 20:36:00
Almost five days after the start of the blaze, the operation was able to begin to move the boat, with thousands of cars on board.
By IM with AFP The freighter which caught fire on Wednesday July 26 off the coast of the Netherlands began to be towed on Sunday July 30. © JANSPOELSTRA.NL / ANP MAG / ANP via AFP Published on 07/30/2023 at 8:36 p.m.
The towing of the burning freighter, the Fremantle Highway, which was off the coast of the Netherlands with thousands of cars on board, began on Sunday July 30, a day later than expected due to windy conditions. According to authorities, the fire aboard the ship has decreased significantly in intensity. The movement of the vessel began in the early afternoon, nearly five days after the fire started, according to a statement from the Dutch National Institute for Water Management.
He said there was “considerably less smoke this afternoon” on the Panamanian-flagged freighter which, according to the K Line transport company which chartered the ship, carries 3,783 new cars, including 498 electric vehicles.
“Towed slowly and in a controlled manner”
The cargo ship must be moved to a new temporary location: 16 km north of the islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, a few tens of kilometers east of its last official position, 18 km north of Terschelling. These Dutch islands straddle the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a diversity of more than 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species, and the North Sea.
An oil intervention boat is nearby, according to the authorities who hope to eventually tow the cargo ship to a port in order to avoid an ecological disaster. The cargo ship is “towed slowly and in a controlled manner (approximately 3 knots, 5.5 km per hour) by 2 tugs”, specified the Rijkswaterstaat.
The cause of the fire still unknown
Saturday’s scheduled tow was postponed due to a southwesterly wind which was “sucking” smoke over the tug, posing a health risk to the crew. “The stability of the ship is constantly monitored,” insisted the Rijkswaterstaat, which indicated on Friday that the cargo ship was intact below the waterline. The duration of the tow depends “on the weather conditions, the development of smoke, the current and the tide”. The operation had previously been estimated at around 14 hours.
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The 18,500-ton cargo ship left the German port of Bremerhaven for Port Said in Egypt before heading back to Singapore, its final destination. The cause of the fire overnight Wednesday is unknown, but one of the electric cars on board could be the cause. One of the 23 crew members evacuated died, several were injured. Operations to extinguish the fire were suspended on Thursday to prevent the ship from being destabilized by the amount of water entering.
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