What happens when there is a fire or spillage involving packaged dangerous goods on board ships? How do Master and his crew deal with such situations?
Firefighting on board ships are very difficult and pose extreme hazards to the crew while executing it. Water is plenty at sea but incompatible with many chemicals to fight fire and flooding of cargo hold with water may cause stability issues.
Some of the recent fires have caught attention of expert prompting them to rethink the strategy of firefighting on container ships. You may recall the fires on Maersk Karachi, CCNI Aruaco, MSC Fleminia, Hyundai Fortune, Hanjin Pennsylvania and many more.
Where do Master and his crew get information on specific measures for fighting fires and dealing with spillage of different types of dangerous goods?
According to Regulation 4(2) of SOLAS Chapter VII Part A and Regulation 4(2) of Annex III of MARPOL each ship carrying dangerous goods and marine pollutants in packaged form shall have a special list, manifest or stowage plan setting forth the dangerous goods on board and the location thereof. This list must contain dangerous goods information as required by chapters 5.4 and 5.5 of IMDG Code.
EmS means ‘Emergency Response Procedures for Ships Carrying Dangerous Goods (EmS Guide) and EmS codes are assigned to each UN Number in column 15 of Dangerous Goods List in IMDG Code chapter 3.2. EmS is two part codes first for fire starting with letter “F” and second for spillage starting with letter “S”. EmS tables are published in supplement to IMDG Code. Fire schedule codes are from F-A to F-J and spillage schedule codes are from S-A to S-Z.
A well trained crew is the best team to deal with fire on board ships keeping this in mind the on board training must include EmS to be well prepared for incidents involving fire or spillage.
Let us look at a scenario of fire in container on deck and under deck cargo spaces. As the method for fighting fire on and under deck varies significantly.
Fire Emergency on board ship
- Cargo : UN 1339 PHOSPHORUS HEPTASULPHIDE Class 4.1
- Stowage: Category B (On or Under Deck)
- EmS : F-G, S-G
If a container carrying above goods is burning, ship staff will identify the UN Number and look at the EmS and find the fire schedule published in the Supplement to IMDG Code. Below Table is for F-G (Water reactive substances).
On Deck Fire
In the above table look at the red boxes highlighted. Cargo fire on deck and under deck. On deck is divided into packages and cargo transport units (container). Fighting fire directly on burning packages on deck or packages burning inside container need different approaches.
Water must never be applied to the packages as this substance is water reactive the fire will dangerously increase. For containerized cargo the advice is “If the fire is not igniting nearby cargoes, let the fire burn. Otherwise, cool the burning transport unit with copious quantities of water. Try to avoid getting water into the container”.
“Copious quantities of water” means total quantities of water provided for optimal fire-fighting using four jets of water, as required by SOLAS regulation II-2/4.
Under Deck Fire
For fire under deck involving same cargo the advice is to stop ventilation to the cargo hold and use the fixed gas fire-extinguishing system. This is flooding the cargo hold with carbon dioxide. However, when packages are burning inside containers flooding of cargo space with carbon dioxide or any other inert gas has little or no effect.
Special cases – Example Magnesium Powder fire
When there is a special case for a particular substance the EmS code will be underlined in column 15 of dangerous goods list in chapter 3.2 of IMDG Code. For example, UN 1418 EmS is F-G, S-O.
In the above table of F-G the special case for UN 1418 says “LITHIUM, non-pyrophoric and MAGNESIUM POWDER require the use of dry Lithium chloride or dry sodium chloride or graphite powder to extinguish the fire. Do NOT use water or foam.”
Magnesium burns with very intense bright white flame and extreme heat which can cause flash blindness as equal to looking at welding arc or staring at bright sun.
The best effective method of fighting fire involving UN 1418 MAGNESIUM POWDER is by applying of dry sodium chloride directly on the burning substances. This must be applied as a circling ring around the fire gradually closing on towards the center with a thickness of 2 or more inches.
However, when containerized UN 1418 Magnesium Powder is burning inside the container these special firefighting powers cannot be applied.
There were certain cases when containers carrying UN 1418 is offered to load vessel command asked for dry Lithium chloride or dry sodium chloride or graphite powder to deal with emergency involving fire. This results in confusion as to how much quantity to be supplied, custom clearances and what happens to these firefighting media after the container is discharged without an event.
Spillage Emergency on board ship
- Cargo : UN 1339 PHOSPHORUS HEPTASULPHIDE Class 4.1
- Stowage: Category B (On or Under Deck)
- EmS : F-G, S-G
Fire and Spillage schedules in IMDG Code
Do you know when two or more dangerous goods with different fire schedules are loaded in same container firefighting become more complex?
Effective training to shore side can greatly minimize incidents on board ships as misdeclared and or undeclared goods and poorly packed or consigned dangerous goods causes majority of fires on board ships jeopardizing lives at sea.
Excellent and very useful write up as usual Shashi.. 🙂
Thank you Hariesh
Excellent and very and V.good hope to read more
thanks,
captain M.sharif
Thank you Capt. Sharif for your feedback.
You are welcome to suggest topics which will assist us, seafarers, for safer sailings.
Regards/Shashi
Very informative article & explained in simple laymans’ language to understand the process. It helps a lot.
Thank you Rajesh for your feedback.
Regards/Shashi
for alcoholic perfumes what is ems
Hello Ashwin,
EmS for UN 1266 PERFUMERY PRODUCTS with flammable solvents is F-E,S-D
Regards/Shashi
What is the ems code for fire extinguisher with nitrogen and also co2 canister?? Thanks
Hello Will,
I am assuming this is assigned to UN 1044, Class 2.2, FIRE EXTINGUISHERS with compressed or liquefied gas. EmS for this entry is F-C, S-V.
If you like access to digital IMDG Code you may take a look at http://www.shashikallada.com/imdg-code-38-16-hazcheck-online/
Regards/Shashi
FOR CARGO DGR CLASS 8 UN 2264, PACKING GROUP II. CHEMICAL NAME IS POLYOL.
PROPER SHIPPING NAME : MIXTURE CONTAINED N,N-DIMETHYLCYCLOHEXYLAMINE. WHAT IS EMS ?
Dear Phudis,
Ems for UN 2264 N,N-DIMETHYLCYCLOHEXYLAMINE is F-E, S-C
Regards/ Shashi
Pls help me EMS for
UN2794, Class 8, proper shipping nam: BATTERIES, WET, FILLED WITH ACID electric storage
Hello, EmS for UN 2794 is F-A, S-B
Regards/Shash
hye….need your help..may i know the ems code for UN number 1263?
F-E, S-E
This can be found in IMDG Code chapter 3.2 column 15
WHAT IS THE
UN NO:
CLASS NO.:
EMS:
PACKAGING GROUP:
FLASH POINT:
SUBSIDIARY:
I AM EXPORTING NATURAL SIZE/GRANULATED COCONUT SHELL CHARCOAL.
THANK YOU
Hello Bern,
Visit our charcoal page https://www.shashikallada.com/carbon-or-charcoal/ for more information.
Regards/Shashi
[…] the Master to “Wash overboard with copious quantities of water. Keep clear of effluent”. Read What is EmS and how this is used? “Copious quantities of water” means total quantities of water provided for optimal […]
Hi,
This is Godwin.
WHAT IS THE EMS NO OF FOLLOWING ITEMS.
UN NO:1133. Item is Adhesive
UN NO:1268 Item is Cleaning solvent
UN NO:1950 Item is Liquid
UN NO:1993 Item is Liquid
You may look up at https://shashikallada.com/ems/