Fire Under Control but Not Extinguished on ‘Marie Maersk’ as Vessel Seeks Port of Refuge

The expert firefighting team that boarded the Marie Maersk on Tuesday has brought the fire under control, though it remains not fully extinguished, according to the latest update from Maersk on August 22.

One container that has been flooded with water continues to show elevated temperatures while remaining under control. The vessel is currently sailing slowly eastwards off the West African coast to rendezvous with another supply vessel carrying additional firefighting equipment.

“The crew is safe and the vessel is in stable condition, with all machinery, steering and navigational equipment fully operational,” Maersk confirmed in a statement.

The fire initially broke out on August 13 when crew members detected smoke coming from containers while the Danish-flagged vessel was en route from Rotterdam, The Netherlands to Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia. The containership was positioned off the Liberian coast when the incident began.

Maersk’s Crisis Response Team remains in constant communication with the vessel crew, salvage operator, flag state authority and classification society to determine next steps. The port of refuge is still under consideration.

“Due to the prevailing conditions in the respective cargo bays we still cannot confirm the exact impact of the fire on the cargo yet,” Maersk stated.

External support has been critical in the containment efforts, with three tugboats and one Platform Supply Vessel with firefighting equipment reaching the vessel in recent days.

The Marie Maersk is a Triple-E class containership with a nominal capacity of 19,076 TEU and was built in 2013. At 399 meters in length and 59 meters in width, it ranks as one of the world’s largest container vessels.

This incident adds to a concerning pattern of container vessel fires in recent years, highlighting ongoing safety challenges facing the shipping industry as vessels continue to increase in size and capacity.

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