ZIM Kingston On Fire Off Victoria, BC After Losing Containers in Heavy Seas

Update: 16 people have been evacuated from ZIM Kingston and the situation remains “dynamic,” the Canadian Coast Guard said in a late night update on Saturday.

ZIM Kingston Cargo Fire Stabilized, Canadian Coast Guard Says

The containership ZIM Kingston is currently battling a cargo fire after the ship lost 40 containers in heavy seas west of the United States-Canadian border. The ship is currently at anchor in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported Friday that it was monitoring several adrift containers observed about 43 miles west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca entrance after they were lost from an inbound vessel when it listed in heavy seas. An update said as many as 35 containers had been observed floating and are being monitored as they drifted to the north.

#BreakingNews Coast Guard crews are monitoring several adrift shipping containers 43 miles west of the Straits of Juan de Fuca entrance. An inbound vessel lost approx. 40 containers when the ship listed to its side due to rough seas. Check back for updates. pic.twitter.com/GInKf8M0sB

— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) October 22, 2021

The ship is the Maltese-flagged ZIM Kingston, is 4,253 TEU capacity containership built in 2008.

The ship is now anchored in Constance Bank off Victoria, B.C., and a fire has broke out in the cargo area. Photos posted online show smoke coming off the vessel:

#BREAKING: A fire broke out this morning on the same ship, MV Zim Kingston, that lost around 40 containers due to rough weather west of Juan de Fuca Strait yesterday. The Canadian Coast Guard tells me the fire broke out in the damaged containers on board. @CHEK_News

— Jasmine Bala (@JasmineBala_) October 23, 2021

Here are a couple photos of the containers aboard MV Zim Kingston on fire. Courtesy of Canadian Coast Guard. @CoastGuardCAN @CHEK_News pic.twitter.com/Jz1xYdBkrI

— Jasmine Bala (@JasmineBala_) October 23, 2021

ZIM Kingston experienced heavy seas from a strong low pressure system that impacted the region Thursday into Friday and at times was at hurricane force with seas up to 9 meters. The video below was from Thursday:

Rapid scan satellite imagery of the deep low pressure system currently about 400 nautical miles west of Tofino on Vancouver Island. Breezy to locally windy conditions will continue into this afternoon before gradually relaxing tonight. #wawx pic.twitter.com/IvHDbtRjt8

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 21, 2021

AIS shows the vessel was sailing from Busan, South Korea. Here’s some more imagery of ZIM Kingston off Victoria:

https://twitter.com/LloydMildon/status/1452034242360217603

The ongoing fire on the ZIM KINGSTON has caused several containers on the ship to collapse. pic.twitter.com/oRb4lNmfXw

— IntelWalrus (@IntelWalrus) October 23, 2021

MV Zim Kingston is currently on fire while at anchor on Constance Bank. The ship had recently lost ~40 shipping containers, some containing hazardous materials, in rough seas off Vancouver Island. pic.twitter.com/shRg47LOow

— Josh Hylden (@JoshHylden) October 23, 2021

Reporting now indicates that the crew of the ZIM Kingston has been advised to abandon ship:

#BREAKING UPDATE: Due to the fire onboard, the entire crew of the ZIM KINGSTON including the captain has been advised to Abandon Ship by Canadian Authorities. Recording attached of radio communications between the crew and Canadian Coast Guard discussing the situation. @vcdgf555 pic.twitter.com/mBQ3mVeONQ

— IntelWalrus (@IntelWalrus) October 23, 2021

Current Location for ZIM Kingston:

Below is NOAA NWS Pacific Surface Analysis from Thursday showing a minimum low pressure of 952 mb:

A Coast Guard overflight on Friday located approximately 35 containers:

#UPDATE: Imagery captured of located containers from U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles helicopter. pic.twitter.com/jOr1bbdnW3

— USCGPacificNorthwest (@USCGPacificNW) October 23, 2021

The low pressure system was one of the first major storms to hit the West Coast this season and is already spelling trouble for container shipping. A second, possibly likely more powerful storm is expected to impact the West Coast on Sunday into Monday:

The next significant storm system for Sunday into Monday is taking shape about 1900 miles to our west this evening. The fast moving clouds to its south is the location of the jet stream which will interact with the system as it develops and strengthens over the weekend. #wawx pic.twitter.com/klh9AUw9kJ

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) October 23, 2021

NWS Weather Prediction Center has provided more details and context about this next storm, saying there’s the possibility of it “being the strongest known system for the area” with a forecasted minimum central pressure of 942 mb.

A unusually strong storm offshore the Pacific Northwest is strengthening on approach to the area, which will lead to very heavy rains in California. This thread aims to place the storm's strength into context. Image: 0000 UTC October 24 surface analysis from OPC/WPC. (1 of x) pic.twitter.com/eBzrHwOSmh

— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) October 24, 2021

For this portion of the globe (20N-40N latitude and 120W to 140W longitude), that would indicate the possibility of this being the strongest known system for the area. A snapshot of a sorted version of the developing significant extratropical database: https://t.co/LQvEd9TvDA pic.twitter.com/gYLZEbsdpp

— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) October 24, 2021

The next storm could be so powerful that the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which is monitoring the backlog of ships currently off the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is requesting the more than 100 ships at anchor and in holding areas (drift areas) voluntarily head to sea before the forecasted wind event expected Monday night.

“Working with the Coast Guard and other partners, we’re making plans for how to handle this backlog through the winter when we will get more wind, more often,” the Marine Exchange wrote in an update Friday.

“A wind event is scheduled for Monday night, and we’re asking ships at anchor and in holding areas to VOLUNTARILY go to sea before the wind event starts so they can space themselves out even more for safety of each vessel,” the update said.

Update (Sunday):

In a late night update on Saturday, the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed that 16 crew members have been evacuated from the ship and the situation remains “dynamic.” A 1 nautical mile safety zone has been established around the ship.

#CCGLive: CCGS Cape Calvert and CCGS Cape Naden have evacuated 16 people from the container ship M/V #ZimKingston near Victoria, #BritishColumbia after a fire broke out in ten containers earlier today. pic.twitter.com/uiKSrmgpv8

— Canadian Coast Guard (@CoastGuardCAN) October 24, 2021

An Emergency Zone has been set up for 1NM around the ship while fire fighting operations are underway. Currently there is no safety risk to people on shore, however the situation will continue to be monitored.

— Canadian Coast Guard (@CoastGuardCAN) October 24, 2021

Transport Canada is also asking the public to not fly aircraft or drones around the scene:

At the request of @coastguardCAN, we issued a #NOTAM restricting all aircraft, including #drones, from flying within 2 NM or below 2000 ft of the #ZIMKINGSTON vessel fire in #BC

— Transport Canada (@Transport_gc) October 24, 2021

Finally here’s a raw, unedited live deep-dive Twitter Q&A about the incident with Captain John Konrad. Tomorrow he will have a more focused and organized discussion of the incident on Dr. Sal Mercogliano’s YouTube channel What is Going on With Shipping?

Live updates an q&a with Captain John Konrad regarding #zimkingston containership fire. https://t.co/yxUq3XNoMf

— gCaptain (@gCaptain) October 24, 2021