Fire aboard Maersk Line's boxship extinguished

The fire-fighting teams aboard the Maersk Kampala have succeeded in putting out the fire aboard the Maersk Kampala, the company said in a press release.

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 originated last Thursday in one container at the bottom of a stack before spreading to a second container. On Friday evening into Saturday late morning weather conditions prevented fire fighting tugs from getting close enough to have maximum effect. As a result the fire spread to several more containers but was contained in the two foremost bays.

Saturday and Sunday saw weather improve and fire fighting tugs on scene 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.

Importantly, the fire fighting team on board is also now well into the process of extinguishing the fire inside containers by cutting open the hot containers as well as those nearby and flooding them with water. To speed up this process, an additional fire fighting team will come aboard this evening.