MV Fremantle Highway is a car carrier owned by the Japanese tonnage provider Shoei Kisen Kaisha, while the vessel is technically managed by Wallem Shipmanagement Japanese and operated by "K"-Line. Fremantle Highway is Panamanian-flagged.
On the night of 25 July 2023, a fire broke out in the loading area of the ship in the North Sea off the coast of the Netherlands. One of the 23-man crew died; the rest were rescued. A salvage operation to prevent sinking and an oil spill lasted until 3 August 2023, when the ship was salvaged and towed to Eemshaven. The ship was towed again and arrived in Rotterdam on 23 September 2023 for an attempt to repair it.
Design and description
The ship, which is 199m (652ft 11in) long with a beam of 32m (105ft), is powered by a two-stroke eight-cylinder diesel engine with an output of 12,240kW (16,410hp). The engine acts on a propeller. Four diesel generators with a total output of 4,750 kW are available for power generation. A stern ramp on the starboard side and a side ramp approximately in the middle on the starboard side are available for cargo handling. The rear ramp can be loaded with up to 100 t. The maximum ceiling height on the vehicle decks is 5.1m (17ft).
History
Fremantle Highway was built in 2013 under the yard number 1617 at the Japanese shipyard Imabari Zōsen. The keel was laid on 17 May and the launch took place on 30 September 2013. She was completed on 17 December 2013.
2023 fire
Fremantle Highway caught fire off the coast of the Dutch island of Ameland around 11.45 pm (CET) on 25 July 2023 while en route from Bremerhaven, Germany, due to arrive in Egypt's Port Said on 2 August 2023. K Line and Shoei Kisen Kaisha stated that the ship was eventually bound for Singapore and was carrying approximately 3,000 cars.[1]
One of the 23-man crew died,[2] while the others were all evacuated on a helicopter and lifeboat by the Netherlands Coastguard. All the seafarers were Indian nationals; 16 of them were injured. Fremantle Highway was subsequently towed out of the main shipping lanes.[3]
The German company BLG stated that they had loaded 2,500 cars and "high and heavy" cargo on Fremantle Highway at the port of Bremerhaven in addition to already loaded cars.[4] On 28 July, it was reported that there were almost 500 electric cars on the ship, which was significantly more than originally assumed, although all were recovered without significant damage and did not contribute to the fire. A total of 3,783 new cars are on the ship, as reported by the Dutch media.
Netherlands Coastguard heavy towboat Guardian was one of the first ships on the scene.Fairplay-30 (left) was one of the towboats that were controlling and finally towing Fremantle Highway for days.
Environmental risks
The fire and potentially sinking ship was causing environmental risks, as Ameland is in the Wadden Sea area spanning the Netherlands, Denmark and Germany and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a rich diversity of more than 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species.[1]
Dutch and German tugboats and fireboats were ordered to attend to the burning ship, as well as an oil-recovery vessel in case of a leak.[6] The ship was at a position north of the island of Terschelling, between two very busy shipping routes to and from Germany.[7] The salvage operation was led by the Netherlands Rijkswaterstaat, joined by the Netherlands Coastguard and contracted salvage companies, like Smit International, Multraship Towage and Salvage and Boskalis. The owner of Fremantle Highway contracted the Dutch heavyliftcompanyRoyal Boskalis Westminster for the salvage operation.[8]
Since there was a risk of the ship becoming unstable due to water accumulation, only the bow was cooled with water. A towing connection was established on 28 July. Since the fire broke out, the ship could not be dragged because of the effects of streaming conditions, tide and wind to the 199 m long and 30m (98ft 5in) high ship. However, the position could be altered by the tugboats Fairplay-30 and others.[9]
On 29 July, Fremantle Highway was towed away from its dangerous berth, eastward off the Wadden Sea island of Schiermonnikoog. Strong south-westerly winds blew smoke from the cargo ship directly over the tug. The authorities temporarily stopped the operation.[10]
On the afternoon of 30 July, two tugs managed to start towing to the provisional sea position north of Schiermonnikoog. The ship remained there until a port was found.[7] The still-burning freighter arrived at its new provisional anchorage around midday on 31 July after a risky transport along the Wadden Sea islands.[11]
On 1 August, a team of experts went on board of Fremantle Highway and deemed there were no remaining visible fires and that the hull of the ship was in an acceptable condition. That night, the wind picked up and the waves got bigger. It became more difficult for the salvage team to keep the ship in position. Another towing connection was fitted on 2 August to connect the ship to tugs from the front and from the rear.[12] The CEO of the salvage company Boskalis warned that enormous forces were already acting on the ship's high flanks. If the wind got any stronger, there was a risk that the ship would no longer be controllable. The north-west wind forecast for the following days would drive the ship towards the coast, said Peter Berdowski of Boskalis.[12] The company wanted the ship to move to the port of Eemshaven on short notice, which was the closest to reach.[12]
Wind forces of 7 to 8 Beaufort were forecasted for the first weekend in August 2023. The high hull and thus very large surface wind attack surface caused the responsible Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Mark Harbers, to have the ship towed to the port of Eemshaven, 64km (40mi) away from the latest holding position. The towing operation began on the morning of 3 August around 5 am.[13] The towing convoy with the wrecked ship arrived there at noon.[14]
Whereabouts of the ship
Fremantle Highway at Eemshaven
The ship's cargo was unloaded in Eemshaven. The Japanese shipping company wanted to clarify in August 2023 whether the ship could be repaired or whether it had to be scrapped.[15] After the first sightings in Eemshaven, insurance companies were assuming that the freight was a total loss. It was estimated at around 300 million euros.[15]
On 19 August 2023, the unburned vehicles from the lower decks began to be disembarked. Before leaving the ship, the cars were washed to remove any remaining pollutants.
On 8 September 2023, Boskalis reported to return the ship to the owner.
The ship was towed to Rotterdam, where it arrived on 23 September 2023. There the ship was partially dismantled and an attempt to repair it was made.[16][17]
Investigations
There has been much speculation that the battery pack from an electric car caused the fire, but this proved to be wrong when offloading the ship.[18] Around 1,000 cars were recovered in essentially good condition - among them all the 498 electrical cars which were on board the ship.[19] Therefore, earlier speculations proved to be wrong.[20] However, the cause of the fire is unknown.[21] Investigations started when the ship was moored in Eemshaven.[15][22]
Reactions
A spokesperson for the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said that, in light of the growing number of fires on cargo ships, IMO will announce new safety standards for those transporting electric vehicles in 2024. The guidelines could include specifications on how fully a battery can be charged.[23] The IMO said that chemicals for extinguishing fires, special fire blankets, equipment such as battery-penetrating jet extinguishers, and bigger gaps left between electric vehicles on ships, could also become mandatory.[23]
Christian Meyer (A90/The Greens), minister for the environment of Lower Saxony, a German coastline state, demanded better safety and environmental standards for commercial ships. High-risk ships should not take any coastal routes and thus endanger the Wadden Sea National Park. Meyer recalled the past ship disasters with the MSC Zoe, in which several containers fell overboard and landed near Borkum in 2019, and the Pallas, which was wrecked off the German island of Amrum in 1998.[24]
German BirdlifeNABU demanded that the protection of the Wadden Sea should finally have priority over economic interests. They also stated that maritime traffic had to be reorganized, and the transport of battery-powered vehicles had to be carried out under much stricter transport and fire protection regulations. Germany should play an active advocate for these regulations at the IMO in cooperation with the Netherlands and Denmark.[25]
Frequently, shipping lanes would go straight through marine protected areas. In order to comply with the EU biodiversity strategy, this must be changed.[25]
Politicians of the Wadden Sea islands and nature conservationists are demanding that the southern route into the German Bight, which runs through the Wadden Sea, be closed to dangerous transport.[15]
Felicity Ace, a car carrier that caught fire and sank in 2022
Related Research Articles
Ameland is a municipality and one of the West Frisian Islands off the north coast of the Netherlands. It consists mostly of sand dunes and is the third major island of the West Frisians. It neighbours islands Terschelling to the west and Schiermonnikoog to the east. This includes the small Engelsmanplaat and Rif sandbanks to the east.
The West Frisian Islands are a chain of islands in the North Sea off the Dutch coast, along the edge of the Wadden Sea. They continue further east as the German East Frisian Islands and are part of the Frisian Islands.
The Frisian Islands, also known as the Wadden Islands or the Wadden Sea Islands, form an archipelago at the eastern edge of the North Sea in northwestern Europe, stretching from the northwest of the Netherlands through Germany to the west of Denmark. The islands shield the mudflat region of the Wadden Sea from the North Sea.
Eemshaven is a seaport in the province of Groningen in the north of the Netherlands. In 1968, the Dutch government declared the Ems estuary (Eemsmond) to be an economic key region. One of the key developments for the region was the construction of a seaport called Eemshaven. The port was officially opened by Queen Juliana in 1973. Industry and shipping were slow to develop at the site.
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. is a Japanese transportation company. It owns a fleet that includes dry cargo ships, container ships, liquefied natural gas carriers, Ro-Ro ships, tankers, and container terminals. It used to be the fourteenth largest container transportation and shipping company in the world, before becoming part of Ocean Network Express in 2017.
Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A, branded as MSC is an international shipping line founded by Gianluigi Aponte in Italy in 1970. The company is owned by the Aponte family with its headquarters in Switzerland since 1978. It is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity, controlling about 19.7 percent of the global container ship fleet.
Alkimos was a Greek-owned merchant ship which was wrecked on the coast north of Perth, Western Australia in 1963. A nearby locality was later named after the vessel. The wreck is a popular diving venue.
MV MSC Fortunate, was a container ship owned by Kosmo SVCS Inc., and previously registered to Hyundai Merchant Marine. She was completed in August 1996 and sailed under the flag of Panama. She had a gross tonnage of 64,054 and was capable of speeds of up to 25 knots. Her cargo capacity was 5,551 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
The MS UND Adriyatik is a RO-RO freighter owned by the Turkish company U.N Ro-Ro İşletmeleri A.Ş. It went into service on 1 September 2001, after being built in the Flensburger Schiffbau Gesellschaft (FSG) shipyard in Flensburg, Germany. It was used for transporting goods between Pendik (Istanbul), Turkey and Trieste, Italy. UND Adriyatik caught fire on 6 February 2008 off the coast of Istria, Croatia, just outside Croatian territorial waters.
M/V Pallas, callsign C6LO9, IMO number 7039206, was a 147-metre (482 ft) cargo ship built in 1971. On 25 October 1998, her cargo of lumber caught fire while traveling the North Sea off the west coast of Jutland. The ship ran aground on 29 October off the German island of Amrum, in the Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park. Around 200–300 tons of fuel oil was lost overboard and caused Germany's most notable maritime environmental disaster.
The Nordic is a German emergency tow vessel (ETV) stationed on an offshore position north of the East Frisian island of Norderney. It is the most powerful tugboat in German waters, operated by Fairplay Towage Group.
MSC Flaminia is a German container ship which caught fire on 14 July 2012, claiming three lives and forcing the crew to abandon ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. After the fire had been brought under control, the stricken container ship was towed to Europe and arrived at Wilhelmshaven, Germany, on 9 September 2012. In March 2013, she departed Wilhelmshaven for Mangalia, Romania for repairs which were finished in July 2014. The ship is currently sailing under the name CMA CGM San Francisco.
MV Baltic Ace was a Bahamian-flagged car carrier, that sank in the North Sea on 5 December 2012 after a collision with the Cyprus-registered container ship Corvus J. Built by Stocznia Gdynia in Poland, the ship had been in service since 2007.
BOKA Vanguard is a semisubmersible heavy-lift ship owned and operated by Dockwise B.V. Dockwise Vanguard is the largest vessel of her type ever built, and is able to carry cargoes up to 110,000 tonnes. Dockwise Vanguard was designed to move offshore oil and gas facilities, but can also carry other ships and act as an offshore dry-dock facility.
MV Höegh Osaka is a roll-on/roll-off car carrier ship that was built in 2000 as Maersk Wind for A P Møller, Singapore. She was sold to Höegh Autoliners in 2008 and later renamed Höegh Osaka in August 2011. On 3 January 2015 she developed a severe list and was intentionally grounded in the Solent. Her 24 crew and a pilot were subsequently rescued.
MSC Zoe was one of the largest container ships in the world when built in 2015. It is the third of a series of ships built by MSC, after MSC Oscar and MSC Oliver.
Grande America was a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship built by Fincantieri in 1997, owned and operated by Grimaldi Lines, a subsidiary of Grimaldi Group. It sank in the Bay of Biscay in March 2019.
The MV Modern Express was a Panama-registered car carrier that developed a list in the Bay of Biscay in January 2016, while carrying earthmoving equipment, trucks and logs. It was a Pure Car Truck Carrier (PCTC) built in 2001 in South Korea, managed by Cido Shipping.
Holland Norway Lines was a Dutch ferry company which operated a passenger and car ferry service between Emden, Germany and Kristiansand, Norway three times a week.
Felicity Ace was a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship built by Shin Kurushima Dockyard in 2005, owned and operated by Mitsui O.S.K. Lines of Japan, and registered in Panama. She caught fire in February 2022 south of the Azores, then capsized and sank in early March.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
![<span class="mw-page-title-main">K Line</span> Former Japanese shipping company, now [[Ocean Network Express]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bf/K-stack.jpg)
