Slow Progress for Salvage of Fire-Damaged Wan Hai 503 Containership

Salvage teams continue to make slow progress in their efforts to clear the fire-damaged containership Wan Hai 503. Two months after the hulk was permitted to dock in the port of Jebel Ali, UAE, the salvage operations continue to face challenges after having removed approximately two-thirds of the containers from the vessel.

Vessel operator Wan Hai posted its latest update, reporting that 1,148 containers have been discharged from the vessel in a slow and challenging operation, with an additional 574 containers still aboard. At the end of October, salvage teams had removed 638 containers, and by the end of the first week of November, it had risen to 987 containers.

The shipping line highlights that the first challenge was that carbon monoxide remained in some of the unopened cargo holds despite the fire, which began on June 9, being largely extinguished by early July. The operation required careful ventilation of the below-deck spaces.

The boxes were waterlogged and suffered extensive fire damage as well as damage to the structures holding the containers. Heavy machinery and grab units were being used to remove each box, but they noted that lifting paths needed to be constantly revised.

Dewatering has also continued, with some 5,000 tonnes of firefighting water having been discharged. The efforts to remove the remaining water, however, have become increasingly difficult due to the amount of cargo residue that is blocking the pump pipes or the hold openings.

Entry into the cargo holds has also been complicated by the deformation of the hatches. They report the hatches were severely deformed by the fire, requiring the salvage teams to cut the hatches into segments before they could be lifted.

The remaining containers are among those that were the most deformed, melted, and structurally weakened during the fire. Wan Hai reports that it is becoming increasingly difficult to identify the individual containers as they are being discharged.

The fire began while the containership was approximately 54 nautical miles west of India in the Arabian Sea and was finally brought under control by early July. It was finally declared fully extinguished by the end of July, and then more than a month was spent searching for a port of refuge before it was decided to tow the vessel to the Middle East. Four seafarers, two from Taiwan and one each from Indonesia and Myanmar, were reported missing when the vessel was abandoned on June 9. The remaining 18 crewmembers were evacuated with the assistance of the Indian Navy and Indian Coast Guard, with six admitted to hospitals in India with injuries from the explosion and fire aboard the vessel.