# Huge Containership Burns In Port Hamburg



## Geoff Gower (Sep 8, 2011)

9,000 TEU containership suffered a major fire in its cargo area while berthed the port of Hamburg on Thursday.
The Hamburg Water Police reports that the 300 meter CCNI Arauco caught fire at approximately 1 p.m. local time.
Initial findings suggested the fire was likely caused by welding work onboard. Reports say sparks from the welding ignited part of a container and quickly spread to others in the general area.
Three workers suffered injuries and were taken to a nearby hospital.
As a precaution authorities have warned residents and businesses in the area to close windows and doors due to thick smoke that was billowing from the ship.The Hamburg Water Police said there is no evidence that any hazardous material has leaked from the vessels.
The fire was being fought with the help of fireboats and firefighters on the ground. The Liberian-flagged CCNI Arauco was built in 2015 and can carry up to 9,030 twenty-foot containers. It is owned by NSC Holdings of Germany.


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## RHP (Nov 1, 2007)

_authorities have warned residents and businesses in the area to close windows and doors due to thick smoke_

I hadn't realised Germany had become a nanny state as well.......


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## Dickyboy (May 18, 2009)

RHP said:


> _authorities have warned residents and businesses in the area to close windows and doors due to thick smoke_
> 
> I hadn't realised Germany had become a nanny state as well.......


What a daft statement! Wouldn't you close your windows and doors then ??(Cloud)


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## Kaiser Bill (Jun 28, 2006)

RHP said:


> _authorities have warned residents and businesses in the area to close windows and doors due to thick smoke_
> 
> I hadn't realised Germany had become a nanny state as well.......


 They're Germans, maybe they need a Fuhrer to advise them ?? (Smoke)


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## trotterdotpom (Apr 29, 2005)

Kaiser Bill said:


> They're Germans, maybe they need a Fuhrer to advise them ?? (Smoke)


One thing's for sure, they don't need a Kaiser.

John T


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Had they kept the Kaiser (as the Americans kept Hirohito) there might not have been a Fuhrer. Evidently there would still have been Der RauchPolitzie. "No vindows are to be clozd mitout 'shut' ve tell you! - dors zimilar!"


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## funnelstays (Nov 19, 2008)

l am intrigued that hotwork was being carried out while at the terminal.
Hot work in port usually requires various levels of permissions and permits
from port authorities,company superindendants,and as wellas ships SMS.
There will now be field days for all safety auditers to be audited.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Standards, standards.

I would have thought nothing of it 'in my day' unless 'in oil'. I do remember at Kharg Island with only the back end to complete tying up with Pol Sachas (resident genius) building a shelter for Stonehaven's brand new but already quite broken GM deck generator - showers of sparks cascading over the side and the old man (John Dunipace?)being really quite severe about him stopping!

On gas tonnage of course huge palaver with everyone onboard and ashore on tenterhooks until completed. In a terminal? Never to happen.


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## sternchallis (Nov 15, 2015)

Welding sparks caused a steel container to catch fire, or was there dunnage in the hold that caught fire?

Liberian, say no more. 
No safety man with extinguisher, no primed firemain and hoses run ut. Doesn't Port Authority have to be informed?
Forget about risk assesments, use common sense.


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Sorry.Nothing to do with the Flag. A 'Management' issue at the worst. Risk takers at the best (and careless ones at that)


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## sternchallis (Nov 15, 2015)

Varley said:


> Sorry.Nothing to do with the Flag. A 'Management' issue at the worst. Risk takers at the best (and careless ones at that)


Then Management decided to use a flag of convenience because the rules governing them, training, class and everything else is not as strict as a British registered and crewed ship.
How many of the disasters are Liberian , Monrovian, Panamanian or Cypriot registered ships?


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

You have a very rosy view of flag regulation.

One of the answers to your question is, of course, that there will have been as many disasters on Liberian tonnage as there will have been on ships with Monrovia as their port of registry.

You also could have found other flags to use as bad examples. The three you chose are all on the Paris MOU 'White list'.

Whilst I believe British is best it doesn't happen by sitting back and leaving it to flag.


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## surveychile (Jan 22, 2008)

As pe http://container-news.com/update-ccni-arauco-fire-hamburg/

Fire incident on CCNI Arauco – Update 1

As a follow-up to our customer information dated 1st September 2016 regarding the fire incident on board of CCNI Arauco at the port of Hamburg, we would now like to inform you that the fire is under control, but firefighting operations still have to continue over the weekend.

The full extent of the damages to the ship and the cargo on board are not yet clear. As per information distributed by the Owners of the ship, some of the cargo has been affected by fire and some has been affected by the extinguishing water.

In consequence of this, the Owners have declared General Average and Messrs. Siemens Maritime Adjusters GmbH have been appointed to draw up the Adjustment of General Average and to collect the General Average securities from all parties concerned in cargo.

In regards to the schedule of CCNI Arauco please note that MONTE Alegre will cover the original position of the CCNI Arauco on voyage 635E and cover London (provisional berthing date 4th September) and Antwerp (provisional berthing date 5th September) in Europe as well as the remainder of the service rotation as per the standard pro-forma schedule. All Hamburg export cargo planned for CCNI Arauco will be loaded on SAN Felipe voyage 636E with ETA Hamburg on 7th September 2016.

We continue to monitor the developments closely and we will provide you with further information latest on Monday, the 5th September 2016.

Sep 03 1530 UTC Update:

During the night some 45,000 liters of foam were pumped into the hold, there was no smoke coming from hold. In the afternoon hatch of the hold was opened with the use of heavy equipment, because hatch was deformed by high temperature. It can’t be said for sure that fire is completely extinguished, temperature is still high, hold is under constant watch. Containers said to be floating inside hold. Containers in the hold are loaded with furniture, plastics, paints, kitchen appliances and other types of goods, which are inflammable. Fire is said to be under control, but not yet extinguished.

Sep 03 0230 UTC Update:

Flooding the hold with burning containers by Elbe water was stopped on Sep evening, after hold was partially flooded, due to safety issues, structural strength being most probably, the major consideration. It was decided to fill the remaining space with foam. Fire fighting, according to media citing authorities, will go well into weekend.

Sep 02 1300 UTC Update: According to latest available information, fire fighting still goes on with fire alert being next to utmost. Hold with burning containers was sealed and filled with CO2 gas in the evening Sep 01, but after that, temperature began to rise again, making impossible the offloading of the containers from the hold. By noon Sep 02 temperature was still too high , fire was still on. It was decided to fill the hold with water up to 70 percent of hold’s volume, though there’s the risk, that hull may crack, due to thermal differential.

Sep 02 0230 UTC Update:

According to available information, fire fighting is still going on, part or all burning containers are in hold, which of course, complicates fire fighting. Tugs are cooling the hull by pouring water on it, temperature inside is so high, that specialist fear hull may crack. It was said, that there were no containers with dangerous goods, either on fire or near fire, but of course, it’s impossible to ascertain at present stage. Three crew understood to be injured, hopefully not seriously, during initial attempts to extinguish fire, all crew said to be evacuated.
Mega container ship CCNI ARAUCO , docked in Hamburg, Burchardkai, reportedly under major fire, after an explosion at around 1300 LT Sept 01, which took place aft, understood in container. Some 80 fire fighting teams said to be deployed.


After reading the above news, it can be pointed out the following:

General average has been declared by owners that means that possible damages to cargo and ships are not minors, and expenses incurred and to be incurred will be high or very high, therefore this is not a minor occurrence.

It is also stated that cargo will be loaded on board of the Hamburg Süd Container Ship Monte Alegre, therefore the voyage of the Container Ship CCNI Arauco have already been condemned and repairs will be carry out on this ship.

But what I really puzzle me is what kind of repairs was the crew or shore personnel was doin on board? a simple spark does not cause such a damage, but a flame yes, I was a marine surveyor and insurance adjuster for cargo and hull during 34 years now I am retired, so something does not fit to me as a normal welding repair, in addition was the crew authorized or prepared to carry out welding works on board? were taken proper safety measures to do this work? and if so who or whom authorized this work? as you can see there are too many points loosen up to this moment.

Regards

Tomi.


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## greektoon (Oct 17, 2008)

Tomi,

There was some highly inflammable cargo in the hold so hot work in the vicinity is a no no I think (and that assumes containers have all been properly declared/labelled). There is also the possibility of flammable vapours leaking from containers.

I was involved in the investigation of a fire and explosion on board the SEALAND MARINER in 1998. If I remember correctly, the explosion occurred due to ignition of pentane gas which had leaked from containers stuffed with bagged expandable polystyrene beads. The crew had been doing hot work on deck and a spark dropped down an access hatch.


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