The towing of the burning freighter off the coast of the Netherlands began on Sunday July 30, a day later than expected due to the wind, Dutch authorities announced, adding that the fire on board had “significantly” reduced by intensity.
The relocation of the Fremantle Highway “started in the early afternoon”, nearly five days after the blaze started, the Dutch National Institute for Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) said in a statement. He said there was “significantly less smoke this afternoon” on the Panamanian-flagged freighter which, according to the K Line transportation company that chartered the ship, carries 3,783 new cars, including 498 electric vehicles. The freighter is “towed slowly and in a controlled manner (about 3 knots, 5.5 km/h) by two tugs”, writes the Rijkswaterstaat.
The freighter is to be moved to a new temporary location: 16 kilometers north of the islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, a few dozen kilometers east of its last official position, 18 kilometers north of Terschelling. These Dutch islands straddle the Wadden Sea, a UNESCO World Heritage Site with a diversity of more than 10,000 aquatic and terrestrial species, and the North Sea.
An oil response boat is nearby, according to authorities who hope to eventually tow the cargo ship to a port to avoid an ecological disaster.
One dead and several injured
Saturday’s scheduled tow was postponed due to a southwesterly wind which was “sucking” smoke over the tug, posing a health risk to the crew.
“The stability of the ship is constantly monitored,” insisted the Rijkswaterstaat, which said Friday that the cargo ship was intact below the waterline. The duration of the tow depends on “weather conditions, smoke development, current and tide”. The operation had previously been estimated at around fourteen hours.
The 18,500-ton cargo ship left the German port of Bremerhaven for Port Said in Egypt before heading back to Singapore, its final destination. The cause of the fire on Wednesday night is unknown, but one of the electric cars on board could be the cause.
One of the twenty-three crew members evacuated died, several were injured. Operations to extinguish the fire were suspended on Thursday to prevent the ship from being destabilized by the amount of water entering.