Staff Writer
The cargo ship carrying thousands of automobiles that caught fire is being hauled to a port in the northern Netherlands.
The vehicle carrier that has been burning for almost a week has been towed to Eemshaven port by Dutch officials and salvage businesses, according to a phone spokeswoman for the public works and waterways authority Rijkswaterstaat. According to the spokeswoman, the damaged ship is scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon.
In a statement, Rijkswaterstaat stated that “the majority of the ship has now been inspected and there are no indications that there is still a fire.” The ship was last seen 64 kilometers (40 miles) north of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, two West Frisian Islands that are part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After the fire broke out late on July 25, the ship’s crew, all of whom were citizens of India, had to be rescued by helicopter, and one person perished. Following a recent visit in the German port of Bremerhaven, the ship was on its way to Singapore and Port Said, Egypt, according to ship-tracking information gathered by Bloomberg.
Nearly 3,800 vehicles, including nearly 500 electric vehicles, were traveling along the Fremantle Highway under the Panamanian flag. According to spokespeople for the firms, the ship is carrying over 300 Mercedes-Benz Group AG vehicles in addition to several hundred BMW AG automobiles. The Rolls-Royce division of BMW AG revealed on Wednesday that a few of its high-end vehicles were also present on board.
According to the spokeswoman, the cause of the fire is currently unknown and will be discovered following a port inquiry.
