Cargo-related fires on large pure car carriers are becoming an increasing problem for the shipping and insurance industry.
Three major fires have been recorded in under three years following the latest incident on a Japanese-controlled ship last week.
The Shoei Kisen-owned 6,400-ceu car carrier Sincerity Ace (built 2009) caught fire off the coast of Oahu, Hawaii, in the Pacific.
The severity of the fire forced the master to abandon ship. It is feared to have claimed as many as five seafarers’ lives after the US Coast Guard (USCG) said it had abandoned the search for the final fifth missing seafarer.
The USCG said the vessel’s owner had contracted tugs to assist the ship, which is still adrift off Oahu.
Cause undetermined
There is no official indication of the likely cause of the accident.
Photos of the fire suggest that it began on the lower cargo decks and has burned through the outer shell plating across several holds.
According to AIS data, the Sincerity Ace was en route to the US from Japan and is likely to have been filled with brand-new Japanes-made cars.
Car carrier cargo fires had mainly been a problem for ro-ro passengerships but now seem to be affecting pure car carriers.
The Sincerity Ace fire seemingly has similarities with the blaze on the 5,700-ceu Auto Banner (built 1998), which caught fire in the cargo decks at the South Korean port of Inchon in May last year. The vessel was loaded with 2,000 used cars at the time.
The fire damage was bad enough for the vessel to be declared a constructive total loss.
In February 2017, the ARC-controlled 5,730-ceu car carrier Honor (built 1996) caught fire in the cargo hold off the port of Southampton in the UK.
A US National Transportation Safety Board investigation into the accident concluded: “The probable cause of the fire on board the vehicle carrier Honor was a fault in the starter motor solenoid in one of the personally owned vehicles being transported in the vessel’s cargo space.”
Investigation into the Sincerity Ace is likely to focus on whether one of the cars onboard caught fire and why fire detection and extinguishing equipment could not respond quickly enough to contain the fire.
