The Marie Maersk, one of Maersk’s largest container ships, reported a container fire while sailing south along the African coast. The company said the crew is safe and the vessel is in a “stable condition” and receiving shore-based support.
According to the statement released by Maersk, on the morning of August 13, the crew of the container ship Marie Maersk discovered smoke coming from a container on board. The crew is strictly following all necessary safety and firefighting procedures to control the situation, while coordinating external firefighting support.
On the evening of August 13, two tugboats equipped with firefighting equipment arrived near the accident vessel. Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals indicated that the Marie Maersk was traveling at 1.5 knots, with the tugboats Captain Cat and Med Rigel nearby. Furthermore, the 9,662 TEU container ship Maersk Savannah appeared to be escorting it, with AIS data indicating it was also traveling at 1.5 knots.
Maersk stated that it is currently “unable to confirm the specific extent of the fire’s impact on cargo.”
The “Marie Maersk” was completed and put into operation in 2013. It is 399 meters long and belongs to the Triple E class. It was built by a Korean shipyard, with a deadweight of 213,971 tons and can carry 19,076 standard units (TEUs). It is one of the largest vessels in the Maersk fleet.
The Marie Maersk sailed from Rotterdam on August 6, bound for ports in Malaysia and China. Maersk reported that the vessel is currently located off the coast of Liberia and has turned towards the West African coast to obtain shore-based support as soon as possible.
Container fires remain one of the biggest problems facing container ships, and several agencies have warned of the risks caused by misdeclared or improperly packed cargoes.
Take Maersk as an example. In July 2024, a crew member of the “Maersk Frankfurt” was killed in a container fire while sailing near the Indian coast. It took the Indian Coast Guard several days to successfully extinguish the fire.
At the end of 2024, the Rhine Maersk was forced to divert to Tenerife in the Canary Islands after the crew noticed abnormally high temperatures inside several containers. The fire was discovered to be caused by spontaneous heating in containers loaded with coal or charcoal. The port fire department intervened promptly and extinguished the blaze, preventing it from getting out of control.