Ship Fire News

A record crowd of more than 900 industry and community representatives gathered for the 11th annual State of the Port, where Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene Seroka outlined his vision for the future, highlighting “Build Bigger and Build Smarter” investment priorities.Hosted by the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association since 2016, ticket proceeds from the event have now raised more than $350,000 for local non-profit organizations. This year’s recipients were EXP and the Toberman Neighborhood Center in San Pedro.Seroka announced the Port handled 10.2 million container units in 2025…

Lloyd’s Register (LR) has launched Fire (C, Risk), a new risk-based notation developed to enhance the assessment of fire safety arrangements on board container ships. The notation is accompanied by guidance to support shipowners, designers, and operators in selecting appropriate, best-practice mitigations based on the specific fire risk profile of a vessel. The new notation, introduced in the July 2025 update to LR’s Rules and Regulations for the Classification of Ships, is the first of its kind to apply the LR ShipRight Risk Based Certification (RBC) methodology to container ship fire safety.

The fire fighting operation is ongoing onboard the Singapore-registered container vessel Wan Hai 503, off the coast of India, as search and rescue operation for the four missing crew continues.A fire broke out on Wan Hai Lines (Singapore) Pte Ltd.-managed container ship Wan Hai 503 on June 9 off India’s Kerala coast, following multiple explosions that forced several crew members to jump overboard.According to the latest update from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA)…

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has been notified by the Indian authorities that 18 crew were safely transferred from lifeboats to an Indian Navy ship, which is en route to New Mangalore Port.Four crew—two from Taiwan, one from Myanmar, and one from Indonesia—remain missing. Search and rescue (SAR) operations are ongoing.Of the 18 rescued crew, five are reported to have sustained injuries. The injured crew are receiving medical treatment onboard the Indian Navy ship en route to port.As at 20:30pm on June 9…

The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) has responded to a fire on board the Castphill XV in the vicinity waters of Patungan Maragondon, Cavite.At approximately 4:27AM on March 30, BRP Boracay (FPB-2401) successfully rescued seven crew members, including the vessel’s captain, who sustained only minor injuries.At around 7:35AM, the Coast Guard Sub-Station (CGSS) Maragondon, Cavite, rescued an additional five crew members, who were then transported to CGSS Maragondon for medical attention.The Castphill XV departed Delpan in Manila on Saturday, headed to Culion in Palawan.

The U.S. Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board will conduct a formal public hearing this month to consider evidence related to a deadly fire that occurred aboard the Italian-flagged cargo vessel, Grande Costa D’Avorio, while docked at the Port of Newark, N.JThe hearing, slated to take place January 10-12 and 16-18 at the Union Township City Council Chambers in Union, N.J., will be open to the public, as well as broadcast live and recorded. It will focus on the condition of the Grande Costa D’Avorio prior to and at the time of the fire…

The Unified Command consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Newark Fire Department, and Gallagher Marine Systems has successfully concluded shipboard fire response operations at Port Newark and is transitioning to the investigation and salvage operations.The Grimaldi cargo vessel Grande Costa D’Avorio caught fire Wednesday night around 9:30PM at the Port of Newark, an incident in which two firefighters died Thursday. As of the morning of July 11…

Grandweld Shipyard in Dubai has delivered four new tractor tugs for operations in Kuwait’s Shuwaikh Port.The four TRAktor 2700-Z vessels Ghanim-1, Ghanim-2, Ghanim-3 and Ghanim-4 were designed by Robert Allan Ltd., who worked closely with the Grandweld Shipyard to develop the customized design of the previously built 27-meter TRAktor tug series. The tugs were engineered to perform multiple tasks including ship assist, escort, towing, fire fighting, oil pollution response and others.Each vessel is powered by two Caterpillar 3512C main engines…

The U.S. Navy accused a sailor of setting the 2020 fire on the USS Bonhomme Richard, but it refuses to release records in the case as the law requires.Despite a 2016 law requiring more transparency of court-martials, the U.S. Navy is refusing to release nearly all court documents in a high-profile case in which a sailor faces life in prison.Seaman Recruit Ryan Mays, 21, has been charged with aggravated arson and hazarding a vessel in the 2020 fire that destroyed the USS Bonhomme Richard.

Commercial insurer Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty released its Safety & Shipping Review, an annual analysis of shipping losses and accidents worldwide. The 2022 report reveals that the maritime sector continues its long-term positive safety trend over the past year with 54 total losses of vessels reported globally, compared with 65 a year earlier. This represents a 57% decline over 10 years (127 in 2012); while during the early 1990s the global fleet was losing 200+ vessels a year.The 2021 loss total is made more impressive by the fact that there are an estimated 130…

Kenya Port Authority's new tug,  Mwokozi II, was delivered to her home port of Mombasa on January 10, 2022.The Mwokozi II is a custom design 42-meter, 120 tonne bollard pull RAstar 4200 salvage and harbor tug developed by Robert Allan Ltd., with particularly outstanding performance in maneuvering, seakeeping, and stability.The Turkish shipbuilder Med Marine was contracted to build the new tugboat at its group owned Eregli Shipyard. The keel was laid on March 23, 2020, and construction…

Dubai shipbuilder Grandweld Shipyards held a keel laying ceremony for two of total four high-performance TRAktor 2700-Z tugs, on January 26, 2022.The tugs were ordered by Specialities Construction for General Trading and Contracting Company (SCC) and will be operated by Kuwait Ports Authority (KPA) in Kuwait’s Shuwaikh Port. Expected to enter service by August 2022, the tugs can perform multiple tasks including ship assist, escort, towing, fire fighting, oil pollution response and others.Robert Allan Ltd.

Svitzer Suez 1, the first RAstar 2800-CL ASD escort tug, has been delivered to Svitzer Egypt LLC by Cheoy Lee Shipyards and will soon commence operations in the Suez Canal. Svitzer are the first owners of this new escort tug design and a further nine tugs to this design have already been ordered with Cheoy Lee.The RAstar 2800-CL design started with a “blank sheet of paper”, according to naval architecture firm Robert Allan Ltd., who said one of the primary goals of the design was to make it extremely flexible allowing for various propulsion machinery options…

The 60m RAmpage 6000-ZM vessel Koc Al Zour, built by Uzmar Shipyard, will be the largest Robert Allan Ltd. design ever built in Turkey. She is designed and constructed as a modern double azimuth stern drive (ASD) and is the most capable multipurpose oil spill recovery and offshore support vessel Kuwait Oil Company has ever ordered.The vessel is equipped to undertake operations such as oil spill response, oil spill containment and recovery, area surveillance, offshore fire fighting…

The proliferation of serious fires onboard container ships in recent years has shocked the shipping industry. Here we examine the causes and impact of such fires and the urgent efforts being made by a wide variety of stakeholders to solve this seemingly intractable problem.Over the last decade there has been a 70% fall in ship total losses[1]. This has been widely credited to long term improvements in ship safety management and loss prevention programs. Counter to this trend, there has been a substantial increase in the number of fires in containers carried onboard container and RoRo ships.

Our COVID-19 maritime world continues to change as our perspectives on education and training with the availability of online learning and conferencing, an increased use of webinars, and the use of simulation technology must evolve if we are to be able to continue to train and maintain skill sets as we navigate the current and predicted restrictions on movement. Changes made now may eventually become fully integrated in to future iterations of training in many industries.An increasing…

Firefighters have extinguished a major ship fire that burned for more than four days aboard USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) moored pier side at Naval Base San Diego, the Navy said Thursday afternoon.Rear Adm. Philip Sobeck, Commander of U.S. Navy Expeditionary Strike Group 3, said all known fires have been extinguished on board as fire teams continue to search the 844-foot-long Wasp-class amphibious assault ship to cool hot spots and ensure no other fires remain.The vessel is listing…

Canadian naval architectural firm Robert Allan Ltd (RAL) announced that  the TOR Group  shipyard in Tuzla Bay (Istanbul) has delivered the Ben Owusu-Mensah, the third of three RAstar 3300 tugs for Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority (GPHA).The new tugs are equipped to fulfill a multitude of missions for the GPHA, including but not limited to ship-assist, fire-fighting, and pollution response, said a press release from the ship designer."Driven by high speed engines and Z-drive propellers, the Ben Owusu-Mensah and its sisters comfortably meet all contractual performance requirements, including the achievement of 82 tonnes of bollard pull and speeds in excess of 14 knots on trial…

Jiangsu Zhenjiang Shipyard in China has delivered Yong Gang Xiao Tuo 60, a dual fuel RAstar 3800-DF tug, to Ningbo Zhoushan Port Company Ltd.According to a release from the naval architectural firm Robert Allan, this first ever RAstar 3800-DF tug is the 10th custom designed vessel by Robert Allan Ltd. in close collaboration with Ningbo Port Company. The vessel is also the first Robert Allan Ltd. designed dual-fuel tug to operate in China.The new RAstar 3800-DF tug is powered by a pair of Niigata 8L28AHX-DF dual-fuel engines, each rated for 2,389 kW at 800 rpm, and driving Kongsberg US 255 CP 2.8 meter diameter controllable pitch Z-drives. Bollard pull recorded on trials met all expectations and is certified as 80.3 tonnes ahead.

Eastern Shipbuilding Group, a shipbuilder based in Panama City, Florida, has recently launched the RApport 2400 tug C.D. White, a ship-assist / escort tug for E.N. Bisso & Son Inc. of New Orleans LA.Designed by Robert Allan Ltd. it is first of two tugs of the same design being built by Eastern for E.N. Bisso. The tug is designed and built to USCG Subchapter M.Though very similar to the tug Gladys B, delivered in to E.N. Bisso in 2016, the design incorporates modifications in order to better accommodate the owner’s operational requirements, regulatory changes and different main machinery."The vessel has been designed to the highest standards of outfitting for an operating crew of up to six.

Hongkong Salvage & Towage, a division of HUD Group, has added two new high-performance tugs to their fleet.A press release from Robert Allan Ltd.(RAL) said that RAstar 3200 vessels, designed by RAL, which are named MAI PO and SUNG KONG, are the most powerful harbor tugs operating in Hong Kong harbour.The tugs were built by Cheoy Lee Shipyards and join four other Robert Allan Ltd. designs, also built by Cheoy Lee, it said."The RAstar escort/offshore terminal tug designation is reserved for a distinctive class of very high-performance ASD tugs," claimed RAL.The tugs are designed and built in accordance with Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.The tugs exceeded the Owner’s requirements at sea trials…

Spanish emergency services have largely put out a fire aboard a vehicle transport ship off the island of Mallorca after some of the crew were airlifted to safety earlier on Wednesday.The Sea Rescue Society posted a short video on Twitter showing fire ships spraying water over a small section of the covered upper decks of the Italian-flagged "Grande Europa", which had been blackened by the flames, but had no smoke or fire coming out of it.It said 15 out of the 25-strong crew had been taken off the ship by helicopter and were safe, and the fire had been "practically extinguished by three rescue ships and the vessel's own anti-fire systems".The Balearic Islands Emergency Service said the rest of the crew had remained on board helping to combat the fire.

American manufacturer Gulf Island Shipyards has completed the second of 10 Z-Tech 30-80 tugs, five of which were ordered by Suderman & Young Towing Co.Once completed, these tugs will be operated in ports on the Texas Gulf Coast by G&H Towing Co, said a press release from Robert Allan Ltd.The Z-Tech 30-80 tug Ted C. Litton evolved from the previous Z-Tech 7500 design for Suderman & Young. Designed and built with a sponsoned hull form, escort capability of the tug is significantly enhanced.The design incorporates the best handling and operational characteristics of both Z-drive tractor tugs, Azimuthing Stern-Drive (ASD) tugs and the unique RAstar series hull form.The new Z-Tech series tugs are intended for operation primarily in major ports and marine terminals.