Firefighters have extinguished the fire that erupted aboard a Zim-operated boxship after a collapse of containers containing toxic substances.
Tugboats continue to operate to prevent renewed flareups, and additional firefighting personnel are due to board the 4,253-teu Zim Kingston (built 2008) soon, according to the liner operator.
Another crew is preparing to board the containership to provide an assessment of the vessel and cargo, in order to bring the ship to harbour to unload the cargo and further address the damage.
That includes providing information relating to the containers that fell overboard, as well as hazardous materials in the damaged containers, the company said.
Greek shipowner and manager Danaos said the fire broke out after two damaged containers on board the vessel caught fire on Friday night.
The fire took hold "following the collapse and loss of several containers earlier on that day, caused by excessive listing due to extreme weather", the company said.
"The master of the vessel ordered the evacuation of the crew with the assistance of the local coastguard," Danaos added.
"He and other key personnel remained on board to oversee the fire extinguishing effort. No injuries were reported."
The Zim Kingston was in the Strait of Juan de Fuca late on Friday night ready to enter the port of Vancouver when the extreme weather struck.
Zim said in an earlier statement that "dozens of containers fell overboard on Friday, 22 October, after which the vessel had been ordered to anchor off the Canadian coast".
The fire broke out in 10 containers on Saturday after the vessel had ran into trouble in bad weather en-route from Busan in South Korea.
Reuters reported that the vessel was carrying mining chemicals when the fire broke out.
The blaze led to the evacuation of sixteen people requiring a major firefighting effort orchestrated by the Canadian Coast Guard (CCG).
"Most crew members were evacuated from the vessel, and a few stayed on board to assist with the firefighting efforts. All crew members are reported safe," Zim said.
Some of the containers were have been carrying chemicals which had hampered fire-fighting efforts, the Canadian Coast Guard reported.
Several tugs on Sunday cooled the hull of the vessel by spraying it ith cold water.
"Due to the nature of chemicals onboard the containership, applying water directly to the fire is not an option," the CCG reported.
An incident command post has been set up to manage the situation and to recover the containers that broke away from the ship on Friday
The ship is anchored several kilometres off the southern coast of Vancouver Island.
Zim charters the Zim Kingston from Danaos.
The vessel operates as one of several ships between Asia and the West Coast of North America on a service operated together with 2M partners Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC).
