A fire aboard the containership Maersk Frankfurt continues to rage, almost a week after an electrical short circuit on its maiden voyage, leading to the owners declaring general average.
The 5,500 teu ship caught fire in the Arabian Sea near India, which tragically resulted in the death of one Filipino crew member.
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) have continued to fight the fire for days, by using a water jet to cool down melting containers and by dropping dry chemicals onto the deck from a helicopter.
The distressed vessel was carrying 1154 containers destined for Colombo, Sri Lanka, and had only been delivered to it’s Japanese owner in May, before being chartered by Maersk Line.
A Maersk update read “We have received notification that the vessel owner has decided to declare General Average, and has appointed Richards Hogg Lindley as the GA adjusters to collect relevant securities.”
The Danish carrier explained “This means that, once the onboard containers are discharged from the vessel at a safe location, they would not be released for on-carriage or delivery until cargo interests have made the required security arrangements through the GA adjusters”.
General Average is a long-established principle of Maritime Law where all stakeholders share in a common loss during a maritime accident. That includes importers and exporters who’s goods were not damaged sharing in the losses of those that were, and potentially sharing in the owner’s losses.
Now, we don’t want to sound like a broken record, but this is the second incident we have reported on this month that serves as a reminder to ensure you have the correct cargo insurance in place. If you have any doubt, then please do not hesitate to contact a member of the team for clarification.
If you have any questions regarding the above, then Westbound are here to help. So, please do not hesitate to contact us.
