Fire on ultra large Maersk boxship claims one life with four still missing

A thai mariner, one of the 23 crew members successfully evacuated from the blazing 15,262-TEU Maersk Honam, has died from his injuries, while four remain missing.

The dead seafarer was one of two crew members that the Danish shipping giant Maersk Line had said was receiving medical attention. The company said his condition "drastically deteriorated".

"We are deeply saddened with the passing of one of our colleagues who in the first place had been evacuated. The seriousness of the event has escalated and everyone in Maersk is moved by this. We are in contact with the family of the deceased and our thoughts and condolences go to them," said Soren Toft, COO and member of the Executive Board of AP Moller-Maersk.

Four other seafarers are still missing from the 2017-built vessel after a fire erupted in one of its cargo holds 15:20 hrs GMT on Tuesday 900 nautical miles southeast of Salalah, Oman. An explosion is reported to have followed the fire with flames rising 25 metres above the main deck of the vessel to the bridge. Unsuccessful in their attempts to tackle the fire the crew of the Mearsk Honam sent a distress call and 23 were evacuated to the nearby vessel ALS Ceres.

"We are doing our outmost in this tragic situation to care for all evacuated colleagues and continue the intense search and rescue operations ongoing for the four crew members currently reported missing," Mr Toft said.

The 22 surviving crew are enroute to Sri Lanka onboard the ALS Ceres, Maritime Seatrade News of Colchester, UK, reported.

Fire continues onboard the vessel and Maersk described the situation as "very critical". Five vessels are involved in the search and rescue operations with the Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller coordinating.

Maersk said the cause of the fire was unknown.

The Singapore-flagged Maersk Honam was on enroute from Singapore to Suez with 7,860 containers, equalling 12,416 TEU, onboard at the time of the fire.

IRISL set to take delivery of its largest boxship from HHI

Iranian container line IRISL's subsidiary, Hafiz Darya Arya Shipping (HDASCO), is to take delivery of the first of four 14,500 TEU ships from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) in South Korea in a couple of weeks time.

The 366-metre long Rayen is more than twice as large as IRISL's current largest boxship series - a set of five 6,500 TEU ships.

The Rayen will join IRISL's HDM service connecting East Asia with the Middle East. The other three newbuilds are set to deliver from HHI by August this year, according to Singapore's Splash 247.

"With their 14,500 TEU intake, they will soon become the largest container ships to call Iran," Alphaliner noted in its most recent weekly report.

Analyst demystifies HMM's mysterious Asia-Europe panamax deployment

The objective of Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine's (HMM) mysterious use of old panamaxes on the Asia-Europe route, long the domain of mega ships, is mostly to provide beneficial cargo owners (BCO) better results than they have been getting, says Neil Dekker, container consultant at ClipperMaritime.

Beyond this are also the wider aspirations of HMM for the future, he told Singapore's Splash 24/7.

"With the demise of Hanjin in 2016, the presence of a strong and reliable South Korean shipping line with a global coverage for shippers is important at a strategic and political level," said the report.

Also the weekly AEX service is an opportunity for HMM to assess the viability of a longer-term return to the key Asia to North Europe market as a vessel deployer, rather than a mere slot charterer.

While slot costs for HMM will be high, sub 5,000-TEU ships are likely to be chartered at low daily rates of well under US$10,000.

The new service will also help HMM prepare for its future strategy in this trade lane. The company is poised to order a series of 20,000-TEU ships for 2020 delivery. With these HMM will become more attractive as a partner in THE Alliance and other partnerships may open.

While HMM is still not healthy, a crucial factor is that it is undertaking these decisions on a national strategic basis with government backing, said Mr Dekker.

(Source:HKSG-GROUP)

Asia Pacific Shipping