Breaking news! MSC container ship caught fire again at the port

At about 0:30, the MSC CAPETOWN III container ship caught fire while docked at Berth IV of Jaya Container Terminal in Colombo Port, Sri Lanka. Faced with the emergency, all operators and crew members on board evacuated to a safe area quickly and orderly. The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) later confirmed that all relevant personnel had successfully escaped and no casualties were reported.

The fire brigade at the Colombo Port immediately took action, responded quickly and effectively controlled the fire, and finally successfully extinguished the fire. This incident once again brought the issue of dangerous goods handling and container ship safety management to the public's attention. According to preliminary information, at the time of the fire, about 60 containers had been unloaded in the deck area of the ship, and one of the containers was loaded with dangerous goods.

In response to the fire, SLPA Chairman Keith D. Bernard said that a full investigation procedure would be initiated to find out the specific cause of the fire, and promised to prepare a detailed investigation report. At the same time, he also emphasized the attitude of holding the relevant shipping agents accountable. In addition, insurance companies will also intervene in the investigation to assess the losses and handle subsequent insurance claims.

MSC CAPETOWN III, a Portuguese-flagged ship built in 2006, is now operated and managed by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC). The ship is 222 meters long, 30 meters wide, and has a carrying capacity of 2,824 TEUs. Before the incident, the ship had just arrived at the Port of Colombo from Singapore and was originally scheduled to unload 995 containers and load 885 new containers at the JCT4 terminal.

It is worth noting that this is the second port container ship fire or explosion incident in the world within three days. Previously, on August 9, Yang Ming Marine's "YM Mobility" also encountered an explosion and fire caused by items in the container while berthing at Ningbo Port, further highlighting the urgency of strengthening port safety management and supervision of dangerous goods transportation.