A stubborn, chemically fuelled fire that has smouldered for three months in the hull of the Marshall Islands-registered bulk carrier NS Qingdao off the coast of St Helena, has finally been brought under control, the SA Maritime Safety Authority (Samsa) confirmed on Thursday.
The South African Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs had earlier authorised the vessel to dump some of its toxic chemicals cargo into the ocean off St Helena to avert a worse marine environmental disaster, Samsa acting COO, Vernon Keller, told Freight News. The Chinese-owned vessel, which is registered in the Marshall Islands, was booted from Durban port to St Helena when it started spewing toxic fumes in late October 2021.
Keller said Samsa had consulted with local and international scientists and environmental practitioners from the International Maritime Organization and the joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) to resolve the crisis. He said the decision to offload a portion of the cargo had not been taken lightly, and authorities had needed to act swiftly to avert the possible loss of the ship and further damage to marine life by its additional cargo of fuel and oil. The vessel was carrying a range of chemicals used in the manufacturing of fertiliser, as well as steel coils.
Keller said the fire, which had been isolated to the front end of the cargo hold, had been brought under control but had not yet been completely extinguished.
“We are still investigating the fire in the cargo hold, which has been burning for three months. We have managed to reduce the flames but it is still smouldering. There were several ways we could try to kill the fire - and one way was to install an invert gas system to remove the oxygen, but that failed because the moment the cargo hold was opened again the gas was released and the fire reignited,” Keller said.
Samsa was aware of the public outrage regarding the dumped cargo, however the decision had been taken as a last resort, he added.
“The reason we had to dump some of the cargo was that it was impossible to kill the fire. We tried removing the cargo and placing it into skips and covering it with sand to take to a hazardous waste dump, but that was too slow as it was igniting. That’s why in the end we took the decision to dump a small portion of the damaged cargo. There was no alternative to kill the fire,” he said.
“It was a last resort and we did not want to endanger the lives of the crew on the vessel and the emergency personnel.”
Keller said the vessel had been taken 250 nautical miles out to sea, where its cranes and grabs had been used to dump a portion of the cargo overboard.
“At the moment we have controlled the situation and downscaled it from an emergency to a salvage operation.”
DEFF has inspected the integrity of the vessel as there was concern that the steel structure might have been damaged in the fire. However, she was given a clean bill of health.
“Our biggest fear was to lose the ship and to then cause more environmental damage. What people must realise is that these decisions are not taken lightly. It was taken because it was an absolute necessity,” he said.
The vessel will sail to the Port of Saldanha Bay in the next week.
“If we get the vessel into port we will discharge any residue damaged cargo and it will be put into skips and taken to a hazardous waste dump site. From there it will sail to Brazil,” he said.
