Questions are being raised about why Israeli line ZIM appears to be keeping schtum about an on-board fire on a container vessel it leases from Seaspan Corporation.
According to reports out this morning, the 8 586-TEU ZIM Charleston was sailing west off Sri Lanka’s coast when a fire erupted in one of the ship’s cargo holds on August 8.
The vessel immediately headed for the Port of Colombo where it remains at the East Container Terminal for ongoing investigations into the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage to cargo and the vessel itself.
Apparently up to 300 containers were damaged in the blaze, but this remains unconfirmed as official information from ZIM is not forthcoming, despite attempts to approach the line for clarity.
In the meantime, attempts are under way to ascertain whether it’s safe to move cargo from the affected area – cargo hold four – where the fire ignited.
This was confirmed by marine insurer WK Webster.
The incident comes at a very bad time for ZIM whose earnings, built exclusively on serving optimum trade lanes with high spot rates being key to their business strategy, have decreased by 22% since the beginning of the year.
With spot rates currently in free fall (read this for context: https://tinyurl.com/4jy2sed6), ZIM finds itself over-exposed to falling demand, and now an unfortunate situation they seem to be keeping under wraps.
Just over a year ago another on-board fire, with far worse consequences, also played out west of Colombo when a blaze on the X-Press Pearl caused it to sink on June 2.
It has since emerged that containerised ocean freight is subjected to fire-at-sea incidents at least once every 60 days.
Moreover, the International Cargo Handling Coordinating Association has reported that of the six million on-board boxes moved each year, about 20% are poorly packed.
It is estimated that it amounts to 1.3 million containers that are high risk annually.
This figure does not include wanton misdeclaration of hazardous goods by shippers and agents flouting international cargo clauses for Hazchem material.
