The neglected hazardous material is behind the biggest fire at sea, according to a maersk Hao South Survey
According to Seatrade Maritime, the Singapore Transport Safety Survey (TSIB) has issued a report saying that it has identified a series of errors that caused the fatal fire on the Singapore-flagged 15,226TEU container ship Maersk Haoan on 6 March 2018.
Five crew members died in the maersk Haonan accident, the worst shipping accident in decades.The Maersk Haonan, carrying 7,560 containers, caught fire around 19:45 local time as it passed through the Arabian Sea from Singapore to Suez.
According to TSIB, the severity of the fire prevented the team from establishing a definitive cause, but it was most likely caused by a batch of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (SDID), which is found in dry bleach, dishwashing agents, cleaning products, swimming pool disinfectants and sewage treatment products.
The panel found that the INSTABILITY and secondary risks of SDID were not identified in the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Rules.Accordingly, the goods fall under Category 9 of the Customs Law, which includes goods less dangerous than category 5.1.
The safety investigation team found that despite the great efforts of the crew, no fire alarm was fired at the time of the incident, which delayed the closure of the magnetic doors and external vents in the accommodation space, which led to the spread of toxic smoke in the accommodation area.
Other possible causes of accidents include the failure of the emergency list to specify the role of each person on board, causing some crew members to wait for instructions.At the same time, the fire fighting flow chart of the ship's emergency response plan does not ensure that all ventilation fans/dampers on board need to be turned off as a major fire fighting operation.Heat and smoke around no. 3 hold also made it difficult to close the vents on one side of the hold.
However, behind this fatal incident lie issues relating to dangerous goods and the tendency of some shippers to fail to declare or misdeclare dangerous goods.Experts point out that it is now economically and practically possible to install networks of fail-safe sensors in ships' cargo holds, even at relatively low cost, in containers.
The Maersk Haonan has now been dismantled and its stern taken back to Hyundai Heavy Industries for construction.After being rebuilt, the Maersk Haonan is now back in service as "Maersk Halifax".
