Since 2012, IUMI’s Loss Prevention Committee (LPC) has been committed to improving fire protection aboard container ships. An IUMI Working Group is currently active in the Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) Correspondence Group at IMO where it represents the interests of cargo and hull insurers. It is the first time in IUMI’s history that marine insurers have brought a new agenda item to the IMO, and it has been the first time that IUMI participated with a large delegation of six representatives in one of the organisation’s subcommittees.

In the middle of this work, news broke about the fire aboard the containership Maersk Frankfurt (5,500 TEU, built 2024). On July 19, the MRCC Mumbai received a distress call from the Maersk Frankfurt 50 miles off Karwar regarding a major fire on board. A fire had broken out on the deck cargo in the forward part of the ship and was spreading quickly. Tragically, one crew member lost his life but fortunately there were no other casualties.

 

Fig. 1 Source: Indian Coast Guard 

 

Figure 1 shows the ship with an extensive cargo fire in the forward area. The radiated heat must have been intense because the crew had to direct a jet of water forwards from the bridge using a spray jet in order to calm it. The ship was turned to the wind in such a way that the wind was coming from the stern and driving the combustion gases and heat forwards into untouched cargo areas. This position is rather unusual because the hot combustion gases can jeopardise considerably more cargo than when the ship is positioned at right angles to the wind. The captain probably chose this position because two coastguard vessels (one to port and the other to starboard) were attempting to extinguish the fire using monitors.

 

The following link will take you to a video showing one of the coastguard vessels during the firefighting operation.

Even though the sea was relatively calm, the coastguard vessel’s task was made quite difficult by the swell from the stern. As a result, the crew on board the coastguard vessel had trouble trying to direct the jet of water from the monitor onto the seat of the fire. Unfortunately, this greatly impaired the extinguishing effect.

It appears that the Maersk Frankfurt is not equipped with fixed monitors that are able to reach all cargo positions. Current IMO regulations do not require such monitors to be installed. This raises the question of how the fire would have spread if this vessel had been out in the open sea without the help of the Indian Coast Guard.

Successful firefighting depends first and foremost on the cooling effect of the water which must be directed as early as possible and continuously at the seat of the fire. The short video shows the enormous extinguishing effect of the water when it falls directly on the fire. Although external assistance vessels such as salvage tugs or coastguard ships have powerful monitors, they cannot pump large quantities of water accurately due to the swell and their position. The Maersk Frankfurt is a relatively small vessel and the coastguard ship was able to target the fire directly. However, when dealing with larger container ships this is not always possible due to the low position of the response vessel relative to a high sided container vessel. Indirect firefighting is a lot less efficient because the cooling action is less effective and more randomly targeted. Ships equipped with their own monitors have a number of crucial advantages:

• The crew can cool the fire effectively from a considerable distance without having to enter the danger area.
• The fire can be countered immediately when discovered; this is a decisive advantage because time is the crucial factor when fighting fires.
• Fixed monitors are always positioned above the cargo, meaning that they are in a better position to extinguish fires effectively.
• The fact that the monitors are installed on board means that the state of the sea does not interfere with the firefighting operation because the monitors move with the ship.
• The crew can use the monitors to achieve an optimum cooling effect.
• Thanks to the support provided by infrared cameras, fires can be fought efficiently even when vision is impaired by smoke or at night.

In the SSE Correspondence Group, the IUMI Working Group has made the concrete proposal that container ships must be equipped in such a way that every position on deck can be reached by two monitors. In our proposals, the on-board monitors would have to pump 2,000 l/min and, in the absence of wind, 75% of the volume delivered would have to reach its intended target. This capacity of 2,000 l/min per monitor is significantly less than that of coastguard vessels (estimated at 10,000 l/min). However, the monitors can be targeted so that they continuously reach and cool the seat of the fire, thereby multiplying their firefighting effect.

Fig.2 Source: Indian Coast Guard

In Figure 3, it can be seen that the crew used the mobile monitors that were present on board to create a water curtain to prevent the fire from spreading unchecked on deck. Given the intensity of the fire, this attempt to establish a barrier is only a very modest measure. For cases such as this, the Working Group has proposed that vessels should be subdivided into effective vertical fire compartments. However, this proposal was discarded as not being “cost-efficient” during the FSA (Formal Safety Assessment) stage. If one were to ask the crew of the Maersk Frankfurt for their opinion, one might expect them to have a rather different view of matters.

 

Fig.3 Source: Indian Coast Guard

 

These photos clearly show:

• How helpless a ship can be when faced with a fire.
• How inadequate attempts to create an effective water curtain/barrier using mobile monitors are (and this is a fairly small vessel at just 5,500 TEU).
• How vital it is to equip ships with effective, high-performance monitors.
• How sensible it is to subdivide ships into fire compartments using effective water curtains, and
• How important IUMI’s work at the IMO and in SSE is!