dpa
Eemshaven
The badly damaged car freighter Fremantle Highway safely entered the Dutch port of Eemshaven on Thursday after burning at sea for nearly a week, according to a DPA reporter at the port.
It was towed by two tugs and accompanied by other boats and a coastguard
aircraft.
The ship, some 200 metres long, was towed for hours to the North Sea port, thereby eliminating the chance that it would contaminate the North and Wadden Seas with oil.
The Fremantle Highway was on its way from Bremerhaven to Singapore on July 26 when a fire broke out.
The source of the fire was probably the battery of an e-car, but this has not yet been confirmed. During the evacuation of the ship, one crew member from India died. The other 22 crew members were rescued.
The badly damaged ship was intact and the fire extinguished, said a spokesman for the responsible Dutch ministry. But there is a risk that flames could flare up again.
“You don’t want something like this on the open sea,” the spokesman said.
The risks of oil leaks from cracks in the steel walls or even capsizing were growing. A hard north-westerly wind was forecast for the afternoon.
Eemshaven is about 64km from the previous anchorage off the island of Schiermonnikoog. The ship will first be unloaded and pollutants disposed of.
The salvage company suspects there is not much left of the approximately 3,800 new cars on board, including almost 500 e-cars.
