'No indication' of fire as Fremantle Highway cargo ship anchors off Dutch islands

Clyde Hughes
·2 min read
22
UPI
The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management on Tuesday said there was "no indication that there is still a fire" on the Fremantle Highway cargo ship. Photo courtesy Rijkswaterstaat

Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Officials in the Netherlands said Tuesday that a fire on a cargo ship in the North Sea had stopped burning.

The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management said there was "no indication that there is still a fire" as the auto-carrying cargo ship Fremantle Highway had anchored in a temporary location.

Officials said most of the vessel has been checked out and the ship does not appear to have breached under the waterline so there is no threat at this time of it taking on water, a week after a fire disabled the vessel that was carrying more than 3,000 vehicles.

The ministry said the ship was anchored about 10 miles north of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland where it will stay until a gameplan is mapped out by the agency and other recovery companies.

The Fremantle Highway remains tethered to a tug boat to help keep it in place and monitored at its current location as the ministry is working with the Coast Guard and companies to determine under what scenarios and weather factors they need to move forward. The Coast Guard said they also need to decide on a time when other shipping in the area will be least affected.

"We are constantly monitoring the Fremantle," Cees Zwaan, captain of the CoastGuard's measurement and oil control vessel MS Arca said in a translated statement. "Only when the situation was so safe that the ship was in its parking space did we take a break to change crew and replenish supplies.

"In addition, we provide traffic management together with the Coast Guard. We call on ships approaching to keep two miles away."

The ship had been towed to its new location on Monday and officials said its final destination would depend on the situation onboard, weather conditions and the availability of a port with the proper facilities.

Dutch media reported that the blaze may have begun with one of the 25 electric vehicles onboard. The Coast Guard, however, said the cause of the incident was still under investigation.