An operation has concluded to move a stricken car freighter ship, ablaze for several days near a sensitive ecological area off the Dutch coast. It was moved to a temporary location away from shipping lanes.
Salvage crews have begun towing the burning cargo ship loaded with thousands of new cars to a temporary anchorage off the northern Dutch coastImage: Kustwacht Nederland/Coast Guard Netherlands/AP/picture alliance
It has been ablaze for several days near the Wadden Sea nature reserve and authorities hoped to relocate it to a less-sensitive spot.
The ship arrived at its new temporary location, far from shipping lanes, media reported on Monday. The slow towing operation began on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the Dutch water management agency Rijkswaterstaat told the ANP press agency that the ship would be further removed from shipping routes to become more sheltered from the wind. She added that this first location was an intermediate step in the difficult salvage operation.
With the help of binoculars, the burning ship could be observed from the Netherlands' northern coastline Image: Jan Spoelstra/ANP/picture alliance
"There was considerably less smoke on the cargo ship this afternoon," said the Rijkswaterstaat on Sunday.
The government agency added that the vessel's stability was constantly being monitored following concerns that it could sink.
The ship was slowly towed to an area about 16 kilometers (approximately 10 miles) north of the islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland, a few dozen kilometers from where it became stricken.
That's close to the ecologically sensitive Wadden Sea nature reserve, the largest tidal flats system in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage site. The vessel could cause severe environmental damage were it to sink there.
Burning cargo ship threatens North Sea with major pollution
The Fremantle Highway cargo ship is still burning off the Dutch coast. Rescue workers are trying to prevent it from sinking, a potential environmental disaster. But the firefighting efforts have proven difficult.
A Dutch Coast Guard boat approaches the car carrier cargo ship Fremantle Highway. The ship caught fire early Wednesday morning just under 27 kilometers (16.8 miles) off the coast of the northern Dutch island of Ameland. But containment of the flames on the 200-meter-long ship is slow, and the coast guard expects the freighter to burn for several more days.
Image: JAN SPOELSTRA/ANP/AFP
Difficult work
Boats with water cannons are cooling the ship from both sides. The fire cannot be extinguished directly at the moment because rescue forces cannot reach it. A Coast Guard aircraft still needs to take pictures from the air and check whether the temperature has dropped. Only then can special forces board the ship.
Image: Flying Focus/ANP/AFP
Ready to fly
Rescue workers at Rotterdam Airport prepare for their mission on the Fremantle Highway. The cargo ship had loaded 3783 automobiles, Kisen Kaisha, a spokesman for Japanese shipping company Kawasaki, said Thursday. Among them, he said, were electric cars whose lithium batteries are complicating the firefighting operations. The Dutch coast guard had previously spoken of just under 3000 automobiles.
Image: MARCO VAN DER CAAIJ/ANP/AFP/Getty Images
Danger to the Wadden Sea
Too much water from the firefighting operations could also cause the ship to capsize. The Coast Guard said on Thursday that the ship was stable for now. Should the Fremantle Highway sink, fuel, oil and, of course, the loaded cars would enter the water, which would threaten the Wadden Sea, the largest tidal flats system in the world, with large-scale pollution.
Image: Netherlands Coastguards/AFP
30-meter jump for crew members
An injured crew member of the Fremantle Highway is brought ashore in Lauwersoog. The 23 crew members had to leave the cargo ship head over heels, several of them jumping from the ship from a height of 30 meters. One crew member died and the rest were brought to safety by helicopter with minor injuries, according to Dutch media.
Image: PERSBUREAU METER/ANP/AFP
Environmental disaster feared
The Panama-registered ship had left the German port of Bremerhaven with full fuel tanks. 1,600 tons of heavy fuel oil and 200 tons of diesel could to enter the North Sea. So far, according to the authorities, no oil has spilled out of the burning cargo ship. Environmental protection organizations fear an environmental disaster if the Fremantle Highway sinks.
A man looks with binoculars in the direction of the burning cargo ship from the island of Ameland. According to the Dutch government, the risk of an oil spill in the Wadden Sea islands is low. Escaping fuel would disperse northwards in the open sea, the responsible Dutch Minister for Infrastructure and Water Management Mark Harbers said on Thursday.
Image: Jan Spoelstra/ANP/picture alliance
"Serious danger"
The German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies is supporting the operation. The emergency tugboat Nordic (pictured above) sprayed water onto the Fremantle Highway on Wednesday. On Thursday, the German government offered further help: "Germany will provide anything that can help," said German Environment Minister Steffi Lemke. The unique Wadden Sea National Park is in serious danger, she said.
The ship has been ablaze for several days. Extinguishing the fire has proved extremely challenging, in no small part because of the difficulty of extinguishing lithium-ion batteries if they ignite.
Dousing the fire with large quantities of water was also not an option for fear of sinking the ship, sending the pollutant materials on board to the ocean floor.
The fire has shown some of the modern challenges of transporting larger numbers of electric vehicles on packed freighters, where on-board fire-extinguishing equipment is often relatively primitive and where it can be hard for crews to access the tightly packed ranks of vehicles.
The cause of the fire on board is unclear, though the vessel's owner has said an electric vehicle may have been the source. Whatever caused the fire, the large number of EVs present among the fire complicates efforts to extinguish it.
One crew member of the Fremantle Highway died in the fire, which forced other sailors to jump overboard when it broke out late on Tuesday.
