Fire-Ravaged Maersk Honam Reaches Gulf of Oman

Maersk Line’s containership Maersk Honam, which is being towed to an anchor at Jebel Ali, has reached the Gulf of Oman, based on its latest vessel tracking data from Marine Traffic.

The ship, which was hit by a major fire on March 6while underway in the Arabian Sea, continues burning, according to an update from MSC, Maersk Line’s 2M Alliance partner. The fire broke out in one of the ship’s cargo holds while the vessel was sailing some 650 nautical miles from Kochi. The fire has since claimed five lives of the crew.

“The firefighting and cooling operations are ongoing, with various hotspots remaining,” MSC said on April 12.

The vessel was halfway between Muscat and Karachi, in the northern Arabian Sea, at the time.

“We will only be able to clarify the situation once the cargo has been discharged and inspected but we can now provide to the owners of cargoes that were stored in the holds 1 to 3 some certificate of total loss if requested.

“For the other cargoes, insurers should prepare the required GA and Salvage security bonds (when supplied by the General Average Adjusters), as those documents will be essential for the cargoes to reach their final destinations and be released under General Average.”

The berthing and discharging operations of the fire-ravaged boxship are expected to result in high extraordinary costs, as confirmed by Maersk Line.

The company has declared General Average, under which all parties with a financial interest in the voyage are to proportionally share the losses resulting from the incident.