ASL Bauhinia

Accident

On 28 January, the crew of the container ship ASL Bauhinia discovered a fire on board while in the Red Sea, off the coast of Yemen, en route to Aqaba from Jebel Ali.

Initial reports indicated that there had been an explosion on board the container ship, and that the fire was believed to had started in one of the containers.

On 31 January, as the blaze continued to rage on board, the 22 crew members were quickly evacuated to another vessel.

Cedre’s assistance following the ASL Bauhinia blaze

On 6 February, Cedre responded to a request from ERCC, via COGIC and COFGC, to take part in an expert mission coordinated by UNEP/OCHA for Eritrea after a fire broke out on board the container ship. The blaze spread to the rest of the cargo. The ship then ran aground on a shoal in the Dahlak archipelago.

Smit Salvage was appointed to launch operations to bring the fire under control and to refloat the vessel with a view to being taken to a port of refuge. The cargo comprised several dangerous containers (solvents, pesticides, etc.) as well as containers carrying lithium batteries and others containing plastic pellets (around 40 containers).

Faced with the severity of the situation, the Government of Eritrea requested international assistance. Cedre's mission comprises four main tasks:

• Risk assessment (containers on fire, risk of marine pollution);
• Definition of an environmental monitoring plan based on water column and sediment sampling;
• Identification of a list of priority toxic molecules to be monitored;
• Analysis and feedback on the salvage plan drafted and presented to the authorities by Smit Salvage.

The ship has now been successfully refloated, but hot spots remain in the holds (with temperatures close to 150°C) and no port of refuge has yet been identified.