A cargo ship carrying over 3,000 vehicles has been burning for nearly a week off the Dutch coast. On Sunday, salvage crews towed the vessel to a new location away from shipping lanes, but according to Reuters, concerns remain regarding the environmental impact of the incident.
On July 26, a fire broke out on the Fremantle Highway, a 199-meter long cargo ship traveling off the Dutch coast. The ship, en route from Germany to Egypt, was carrying a cargo of automobiles and it is suspected that one of the vehicles may have started the blaze.
“There is a good chance that the fire started with electric cars,” Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, the owner of the ship, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. “But we are not entirely sure of the cause, we are waiting for the investigation.” The ship charter company stated there were 3,783 vehicles on board, 498 of which were battery electric vehicles, according to Reuters.
Faced with a quickly spreading fire, seven crew members were forced to jump overboard. Willard Molenaar, of the Royal Dutch Rescue Company (KNRM), told NOS that some were injured by the jump overboard, and one crew member tragically perished in the flames. “There was lot of smoke and the fire spread quickly, much faster than expected,” he said. “The people on board had to get off quickly … We fished them out of the water.” The remaining members of the 23-person crew were airlifted off the vessel by helicopter.
As the Fremantle Highway continued to burn, rescue ships sprayed the side of the ship with water in an attempt to control the blaze without causing the vessel to sink. Meanwhile, a salvage vessel hooked on to prevent the cargo ship from drifting.
Four days later, the still burning vessel was successfully towed 41 miles away, in order to remove it from shipping lanes and provide shelter from the wind. The ship now sits in a temporary position 10 miles north of the Dutch islands Schiermonnikoog and Ameland.
However, as France24 reports, concerns remain about the possible environmental impact. The nearby Wadden Sea is a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to more than 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species.
This is not the first time Shoei Kisen Kaisha has encountered trouble with one of its vessels. The company also owned the Ever Given, a ship that became stuck in the Suez canal for six days in 2021.
