Fremantle Highway

[Dutch_Master]

On July 25, the Fremantle Highway, a car-carrier sailing under Panamanian flag with a crew of 23, mostly from India, caught fire shortly after leaving the port of Bremen (Germany). All crew abandoned ship, sustaining severe injuries and regrettably one parished as a result. The loading manifest held about 500 EV and another 3,500 'normal' cars on board, one of which started the fire. Destination was Egypt then on to Singapore. The vessel burned for almost a week. It was towed to the port of Eemshaven in the north of the Netherlands for damage assessment and recovery of salvageable vehicles. It turned out the fire started on Deck 8, with vehicles stowed on Decks 4 and below hardly, or not at all, affected by the fire. In total, some 1100 cars were salvageable. Most EV's (if not all) were on these lower decks.

 

Dutch salvage company Boskalis installed a full-fetched car-wash system on board, to keep contaminants on the ship instead of bringing them onshore. EV's affected by the fire were placed in water-filled containers to prevent self-combustion during the salvage process.

 

Below a number of video's showing the salvaging as well as the remains of vehicles on the burnt-out decks. Narration/subtitles in Dutch only, sorry.

 

 

 

 

 

The wall of yellow containers surrounding the salvage- and storage yards is for security. This amount of expensive cars attracts too many folks who want to gain financially from this disaster. (that's criminals to you and me ) To that end, the area is under 24/7 surveillance by police and private security. Mind, the ship and its contents are now owned by the insurance company (assuming they already paid the ship's owner as well as the owners of the cars for their loss, if not both will have a big say in events with this situation).

 

From other, not linked videos I gather there were not only new cars on board, but also a large contingent of banned used vehicles that leave the EU for countries where environmental regulations are either less strict or totally absent. (that's Egypt, in normal person speak. But they're not alone, it's rampant in the whole of Africa )

 

So, discussion point: should vehicles that no longer adhere to strict environmental regulations imposed in the West be exported to 3rd world countries where they continue to pollute the environment? Please elaborate your reasoning

[Senzelian]

19 minutes ago, Dutch_Master said:

So, discussion point: should vehicles that no longer adhere to strict environmental regulations imposed in the West be exported to 3rd world countries where they continue to pollute the environment? Please elaborate your reasoning

I would say that depends on the amount of vehicles. If we're just talking about a few thousand, than that hardly makes a difference. But if we're talking millions of cars, then I would like to see them being upgraded to fit regulations or recycled entirely.

 

That fire probably caused more polution than these cars could ever produce in their lifespan.

[TetraSky]

Any idea on how one of the normal cars started the fire? Gasoline leak + fumes + some wire sparking somewhere ? Sabotage?

[Dutch_Master]

No, investigations are hampered by the devastation of the ship and car decks so still ongoing. On many decks cars and deck have become one, some decks actually collapsed.