Car Carrier Catches Fire at Antwerp Dock

[sailorman]

Car Carrier Catches Fire at Antwerp Dock

October 20, 2016 by Mike Schuler

Silver Sky on fire at the Port of Antwerp.A serious fire broke out overnight in the cargo area of a pure car and truck carrier docked at the Port of Antwerp.
According to reports the fire erupted just after midnight aboard the 1988-built Silver Sky, which had just loaded secondhand vehicles bound for West Africa.
Early reports say the fire is believed to have originated in one of the vehicles and spread to others in the compartment.
All crew members were evacuated without injury.
Fire fighters continued to cool the vessel during the day Thursday but as of midday were unable to get inside to inspect the extent of the damage.


http://gcaptain.com/car-carrier-catches-fire-at-antwerp-dock/

 

[westhinder]

Latest update: the fire is still rageing and seems to have intensified again. Firefighters still unable to enter the decks.

 

[sailorman]

Just as well it didnt happen on the high seas, those damn things are NOT safe

 

[Blue Sunray]

Just as well it didnt happen on the high seas, those damn things are NOT safe

Of course not darling, no other sort of ship ever catches fire, it must be an inherent design fault across the type. You know so much more than Lloyd's, DNV, RINA et al.

 

[Greenheart]

I believe they flood huge sealed sections of the car-decks with carbon dioxide at sea, specifically to prevent fire from spreading.

So perhaps it would have been better if it had happened at sea, where the fire couldn't have got established.

I hope I didn't dream that.

 

[Fossil]

Carbon dioxide? CO2? Don't really think so. Would react with any water around to produce a mildly acidic environment, just what you want to store vehicles in, or have floating around inside your metal ship.

Carbon monoxide, now - inert, easily obtained from flue gas from the main engines - different matter. Monoxide flooding would make some sense and would make it significantly harder for fires to start, or be maintained. You have to balance out the advantages of this with the disadvantage of rendering large parts of your ship no-go areas for firefighters or crew work - significantly dangerous in fact unless you have a very large-capacity venting system to purge the monoxide quickly, should this become necessary. Otherwise, no-one could enter these areas unless they were wearing full breathing kit, which may not be ideal.

 

[sailorman]

Carbon dioxide? CO2? Don't really think so. Would react with any water around to produce a mildly acidic environment, just what you want to store vehicles in, or have floating around inside your metal ship.

Carbon monoxide, now - inert, easily obtained from flue gas from the main engines - different matter. Monoxide flooding would make some sense and would make it significantly harder for fires to start, or be maintained. You have to balance out the advantages of this with the disadvantage of rendering large parts of your ship no-go areas for firefighters or crew work - significantly dangerous in fact unless you have a very large-capacity venting system to purge the monoxide quickly, should this become necessary. Otherwise, no-one could enter these areas unless they were wearing full breathing kit, which may not be ideal.

The decks are regularly checked for loose lashing,i do not believe that would work & as stated would leave crew exposed to dangerous situations in compartments

 

[westhinder]

I believe they flood huge sealed sections of the car-decks with carbon dioxide at sea, specifically to prevent fire from spreading.

That is exactly what the firefighters are doing now. They will feed 140 tons of CO2 into the ship, which may take all night

 

[sailorman]

Will she end up in Zeebrugge being cut up like the Tricolour

 

[VicS]

Carbon dioxide? CO2? Don't really think so. Would react with any water around to produce a mildly acidic environment, just what you want to store vehicles in, or have floating around inside your metal ship.

Carbon monoxide, now - inert, easily obtained from flue gas from the main engines - different matter. Monoxide flooding would make some sense and would make it significantly harder for fires to start, or be maintained. You have to balance out the advantages of this with the disadvantage of rendering large parts of your ship no-go areas for firefighters or crew work - significantly dangerous in fact unless you have a very large-capacity venting system to purge the monoxide quickly, should this become necessary. Otherwise, no-one could enter these areas unless they were wearing full breathing kit, which may not be ideal.

Sorry not much in your post that I agree with. CO₂ and water is only weakly acidic. If the water is sea water that would be offset by the alkalinity .

CO surely not for fire fighting ... its flammable.

but anyway CO from the main engines ? Presumably diesel engines. Exhaust gas surely nearly 80% nitrogen, remainder CO₂and water vapour with only a tiny amount CO if any

 

[JumbleDuck]

Carbon dioxide? CO2? Don't really think so.

SYNOPSIS

At 0215 on 4 December 2013, a fire was discovered on the main deck of the ro-ro cargo ferry Corona Seaways while the vessel was on passage from Fredericia to Copenhagen, Denmark. The crew mustered, closed the ventilation louvres, established boundary cooling and operated the fixed CO₂ fire-extinguishing system. Although smoke continued to escape from the louvres, steady temperatures in the vicinity of the fire indicated that the CO₂ had been effective in controlling it. [...]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/547c6f1f40f0b60244000005/CoronaSeaways.pdf​

 

[Fossil]

Oh well, I stand corrected. But I'm sure I read somewhere about the use of stack gas on ships to provide an inert environment to reduce the risk of fire. Possibly on tankers?

Those fire fighters in Antwerp must've used one heck of a lot of CO2. Where would they get it from?

 

[mm42]

CO2 is definitely used for firefighting in some ships but I've never heard of it being used as a preventive measure.

 

[Greenheart]

Be it a response or prevention, I'm no scientist so I must have been told it, presumably by someone who did know...it's not the kind of thing I would have worked out for myself.

 

[ex-Gladys]

The investigation into the big fire in the Channel Tunnel by the RAIB and their French equivalent makes interesting reading, cause possibly a similar thing with an electrical fire on an old truck being carried on the back of a transporter as I recall...

 

[RichardS]

Those fire fighters in Antwerp must've used one heck of a lot of CO2. Where would they get it from?

Perhaps from those millions of CO2 cylinders that are all over the place in factories, offices, homes, cars, boats etc? They're normally used for firefighting so probably ideal in this case.

Richard

 

[Biggles Wader]

CO2 is definitely used for firefighting in some ships but I've never heard of it being used as a preventive measure.

Exactly.Someone has got confused here.Most ships have a compartment full of co2 bottles and a fire fighting system that pipes it to the relevant compartment in the ship where the fire is.The area on fire has to be sealed first or the co2 would just blow away.It is not used as a preventer.

 

[Minchsailor]

Carbon dioxide? CO2? Don't really think so. Would react with any water around to produce a mildly acidic environment, just what you want to store vehicles in, or have floating around inside your metal ship.

Carbon monoxide, now - inert, easily obtained from flue gas from the main engines - different matter. Monoxide flooding would make some sense and would make it significantly harder for fires to start, or be maintained. You have to balance out the advantages of this with the disadvantage of rendering large parts of your ship no-go areas for firefighters or crew work - significantly dangerous in fact unless you have a very large-capacity venting system to purge the monoxide quickly, should this become necessary. Otherwise, no-one could enter these areas unless they were wearing full breathing kit, which may not be ideal.

Actually, oil tankers inert their tanks (both full and in ballast) with CO2 from the engine exhaust to reduce the risk of explosion (due to static electricity discharges). I've worked in this field for 30 years. The flue gas is washed with sea water to remove the acidic by-products (SO2, NOx) but no worries about the corrosive effects of the CO2 itself. No knowledge if they do this on car carriers.

Using CO would be plain daft - this would just feed the fire,

 

[Mariner69]

Ro-Ro ships have many types of fixed fire fighting systems depending upon the requirements of the flag state and the classification society. All have advantages and disadvantages. CO2 smothering requires the area to be closed off and this is often quite difficult and forgetting one small opening can negate the whole operation. These vessels have very large ventilation systems to reduce the CO levels when vehicles are being loaded and unloaded. So closing off can be very difficult. Fire curtains and water fog systems have advantages but free surfaces have to be avoided to reduce the risk of the vessel's stability being compromised.

The normal trade to West Africa involves many trucks of a dubious condition with a small car inside a larger van on the back of a flat bed HGV. I have seen 5 HGVs nested on one unit which drove onboard the vessel. Batteries should be disconnected after loading and just before unloading but these days the emphasis on speed has led to cases where the batteries are left still connected. Bear in mind these vehicles have dubious electrics from their heavy work prior to transportation (as in the 18th Cent meaning) and they have failed the MOT or equivalents which is why they have been sent out of Europe (including the UK). The miracle is that we do not have more fires in these ships. Small crews make fire fighting 'interesting' and mixed race and languages can often add to the fun.

The good news is nobody has been hurt so far; may it continue.

 

[mjcoon]

Carbon monoxide, now - inert, ...

Dear, dear, where did you learn your chemistry? CO can be burnt to CO2, which is why it used to be included as an ingredient of "town gas".

Mike.