Firefighters have now boarded the ZIM Kingston alongside seven members of the crew to assess the damage of the fire that broke out on the vessel on 24 October 2021.
According to a social media post from the Canadian Coast Guard, while on board the team will assess the current situation. However, the Coast Guard estimates several days to fully suppress smouldering and fires inside the containers.
Despite this, ZIM Shipping has claimed in a separate social media post that the fire onboard the vessel has now been fully extinguished and that it is working closely with all relevant agencies to secure the crew’s safety and the minimise the environmental impact.
Once the flames have been fully extinguished, salvage experts are set to secure the remaining containers onboard, while environmental experts and the Canadian Coast Guard monitor the work and respond to any potential marine pollution.
The owner of the ZIM Kingston, Danaos Shipping, has commissioned a team of experts and marine fighters to also go onboard and ensure conditions are appropriate for the safe return of the vessel’s crew.
The company has also reported that daily plume modelling conducted by Environment Canada to track the smoke shows that it is dispersing before reaching populated areas.
Additionally, Danaos is also working closely with Incident Command to find and recover the containers that had been lost as a result of the fire. Finding the vessels has been proved difficult due to ongoing stormy weather and large swells.
This comes after a report that the lost containers are said to be drifting approximately 12NM east of Vancouver Island on a Northwest trajectory, parallel with the island.
These containers may have washed up on shore by now as modelling shows they may reach Cape Scott on Northern Vancouver Island. The Canadian Coast Guard has warned the public to not open or move the containers if found due to the hazardous contents.
