This Accident Investigation Report refers to a fire which broke out in a vent stack on Valhall PCP on Wednesday 13 July 2011. It was detected at about 16.37. At that time, a vessel had arrived and crane operations were under way on the south-eastern side of the facility. Staffing on the Valhall field centre totalled 626 people at the time.
This incident is referring to a vessel which had an exhaust gas heated Thermal Oil installation. The thermal oil circulating pump stopped and the stand-by pump did not start. No alarm indicating abnormal condition was given. The thermal oil system temperature and pressure increased until the safety valve directed the oil into the compensating (expansion) tank. The expansion tank overflowed (again no alarm was given) through its air vent head. The air vent head was mounted inside the funnel, close to the exhaust pipes. An explosion was heard from the funnel followed by a fire.
The direct cost of an engine room fire can be in the range of 1–4 million USD for a cargo vessel and much more for a passenger vessel. Off-hire and loss of goodwill adds to this figure and is perhaps the most difficult asset to replace. Engine room fires also represent a hazard for crew members working in that area and fire fighters.
On early morning 30 March 2013, off the island of Masirah (Oman), the Liberian fllaged cargo bulk carrier ‘Atlantic Confidence’, reported to have a fire in the engine room and requested assistance. Upon receiving the message, Admiral Antonio Natale, Commander of the NATO Task Force engaged in the fight against piracy off the Horn of Africa, promptly ordered the nearest vessel under his command, the frigate USS Nicholas to proceed at maximum speed and assist.
A fire broke out at a shipyard in Jurong at about 9.20pm Tuesday. Search-and-rescue work is under way for three people missing. According to the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) put out the fire at 4.30am Wednesday. The fire had started on a tug boat and spread to three adjacent tug boats at Tanoto Shipyard at Jalan Samulun.
A port auxiliary engine was operating under normal conditions when a fire started in way of the manifold. It was decided to evacuate the engine room and the CO2 system was released eleven minutes after detection of the fire. After approximately half an hour, the fire was confirmed extinguished.
MAIB released this month its Safety Digest for the second semester of 2012. Among others one case refer to an incident where an explosion caused the poop deck to completely detach from the vessel and land on the compartment funnel deck.
A few days ago a Filipino seafarer who was onboard the well known MSC Flaminia fire accident died in hospital in Portugal from severe burns that he suffered in a fire. MSC Flaminia is a German container ship that caught fire on 14 July 2012 forcing the crew to abandon ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The ship remained at sea after the fire for over a month and among others at a specific time EU countries were refusing to offer shelter to the vessel most probably due to hazardous materials stored within its containers. Taking the opportunity a full timeline of the MSC Flaminia fire has been compiled mainly from information from the Maritime Bulletin.
An explosion and subsequent fire on-board a beached tanker at the Alang-Sosiya Ship Recycling Yard in India killed five workers and severely injured two others on Saturday, according to Indian officials. The fire broke out at 12.45 pm on the 163-metre-long MT Union Brave, a tank-ship purchased recently by Bhavnagar-based Kiran Ship Breaking Co. for recycling. The vessel was beached at plot 82.
A major ship fire erupted on the MV Amsterdam Bridge over the weekend off the coast of Mumbai. The blaze has fortunately been contained and cooling operations are ongoing aboard the Colombo-bound merchant vessel. The entire 20-man crew is safe. Indian Coast Guard officials confirm that the flames are contained, but not yet fully extinguished. Thick smoke continues to rise from the vessel and fire-fighting is underway.
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Officer of the Watch 