On July 16, local time, a fire broke out on the “FWN Adriatic”, a new tweendecker that was preparing for its maiden voyage, while docked in the Port of Antwerp. After receiving a fire alarm at around 10:30 a.m. on the same day, the Antwerp Fire Department immediately dispatched a rescue team to assist the fireboat in helping the “FWN Adriatic” put out the fire.
As smoke from the fire was spreading, vesselss in the port and nearby residents received safety alerts.
The shipowner, ForestWave, said that at the time of the incident, “FWN Adriatic was loading cargo in Northern Europe and heading for a beautiful destination in the Indian Ocean.” This was the maiden voyage of the Dutch-registered vessel. It is reported that the vessel was carrying cars and plasterboard at the time.
According to the Antwerp Fire Department, rescuers have controlled some of the smoke by closing the hatch cover and decided to use carbon dioxide to further reduce the smoke. However, this fire extinguishing method is expected to take several hours to completely extinguish the fire.
FWN Adriatic is the fourth vessel in ForestWave’s new Ecobox XL design series. Built by Dutch shipyard Ferus Smit, the 144-meter-long vessel has a deadweight of 12,500 tons and is designed to handle extra-long cargoes such as wind turbine blades while still maintaining good performance as a normal cargo vessel.
Compared to earlier vessels, the new Ecobox XL vessel is 21 meters longer, giving it a box-shaped cargo hold that extends over 100 meters along the deck area and reaches 112 meters above the movable second deck. With a width of 18 meters, it can further increase cargo capacity while maintaining loading flexibility and extremely low resistance in calm waters and waves.