Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) is taking action to avoid declaration of a general average after an AP Moller-Maersk boxship was disabled by fire off Portugal last month.
The 13,100-teu Maersk Elba (built 2010) suffered the blaze in its engine room at the end of December while en route from Suez to Felixstowe.
The ship was carrying cargo for MSC as part of its Shogun service. The vessel was towed to Algeciras in Spain for repairs.
The extent of the damage is unclear.
'Exceptional' decision
"Exceptionally, on this specific occasion, MSC has taken the decision to cover the costs so that the vessel operator will not declare general average," MSC said.
"This decision was taken to avoid additional costs or delays for our customers as a result of this incident."
General average is a principle of maritime law in which all stakeholders share the costs of a casualty.
The ship arrived in Spain on 3 January. The temporary repairs will allow it to head on to Wilhelmshaven in Germany, where cargo will be offloaded.
The arrival date is still to be confirmed.
MSC understands that Maersk is planning to arrange feeder vessels to carry cargo on from Wilhelmshaven to Rotterdam and the UK port of Felixstowe.
The Danish-flag vessel has protection and indemnity cover from Britannia P&I and is under Lloyd's Register classification.
Hapag-Lloyd also had boxes on the Maersk Elba.
Another added to the list
Boxship fires have seldom been out of the news.
In September, a Mitsui OSK Lines containership suffered a blaze off Sri Lanka.
The 8,110-teu MOL Charisma (built 2007) was diverted to Colombo as a result.
In May, China Cosco Shipping was hit with its second major casualty off South Africa in a week following a fire on one of its boxships.
A cargo fire was reported on the 4,253-teu Cosco Sao Paulo (built 2013), operated by the Chinese shipping giant's Cosco Shipping Lines, off Cape Agulhas.
The incident resulted in the vessel being escorted to a safe anchorage in Table Bay.
In January this year, the 10,000-teu Cosco Pacific (built 2010) had a major cargo fire off Sri Lanka. The company blamed that incident on a misdeclared consignment of lithium batteries.
