On the Dutch coast at the Wadden Sea you can breathe easy. Islanders, salvage experts and authorities are relieved. The burning freighter with 1.6 million liters of heavy fuel oil on board has arrived at a less dangerous anchorage. “The ship was towed without any problems,” said the water authority in The Hague. There was no damage to the islands and natural areas in the Wadden Sea.
The approximately 200 meter long “Fremantle Highway” with around 3800 cars on board reached its new provisional anchorage around 16 kilometers north of the Wadden Sea islands of Schiermonnikoog and Ameland after a risky journey of more than 15 hours. The transport began on Sunday evening further west off the island of Terschelling.
New place for the “Fremantle Highway”
The new place is far away from boat traffic and more sheltered from the wind. The ship is anchored there, but is also being stabilized by two tugboats. The special ship that can clear oil also remains very close by.
But this is just one stage on the difficult road to the end of the drama with the “Fremantle Highway”. That had started almost a week ago when the fire broke out on the car decks on Wednesday night. During the evacuation, a man from India died and the other 22 crew members were injured. Most of them have now been discharged from the hospital, the Japanese shipping company said.
Danger not yet averted
Now the question is how to proceed. The ship is still burning. “The fire has weakened significantly, and the temperature has also dropped,” said the director of the water authority, Joost de Ruig, the radio station NOS. The ship is stable and intact. That’s good news. But the danger has not been averted that the steel walls will tear open and oil will seep out.
First, salvage specialists on board should check the condition of the ship in detail. Only when it is actually stable enough can it be transported to a port. But the fire has to be out for that to happen. Previously, direct deletion was not possible at all. Because if too much water gets into the ship, it could become unstable and capsize.
So it’s time to wait again. That’s not ideal, said Director Ruig. And certainly not near the Wadden Sea World Heritage Site. “But under these circumstances, it’s the best place,” he said. “The ship stays here until the fire has gone out. Only then can it be towed safely.”
What to do with the wreck?
The following question is: where to? A port must be equipped for such an operation. The ship has to be unloaded, scrapped and the heavy oil pumped out. In an emergency, the pumping could already take place at sea at the current anchorage in order to reduce the dangers of further transport.
It has not yet been decided where the “Fremantle Highway” will be towed. It could also be a port in Germany. The Japanese owner must pay the cost of the entire operation.
The ship, flying the Panamanian flag, was on its way from Bremerhaven to Singapore when fire broke out on Wednesday night. The cause is not yet known. However, it is assumed that the seat of the fire was a battery of an electric car. The ship had loaded about 500 electric cars, far more than the 25 that were first reported. Brand experts say that electric car batteries are much more difficult to extinguish.
Stricter rules for transporting e-cars
In the meantime, environmental protection organizations are also demanding stricter rules for the transport of e-cars in Germany. “It is long overdue to declare such transports as dangerous goods transports and to no longer allow them to drive close to the coast,” said Nadja Ziebarth, head of the marine protection office at the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland. The Dutch Wadden Islands are also pushing to move shipping freight traffic to and from Germany further north, further away from the islands and the Wadden Sea.
