By now most in the industry know about the fire incident on board X-Press Pearl at Colombo anchorage.
Let us chronicle the event, deliberate the cause, and find a way forward for safer shipping.

Timeline

• May 10^th Departed Jebel Ali, UAE
• May 11^th Departed Hamad, Qatar
• May 15^th Departed Hazira, India
• May 19^th Arrived Colombo anchorage
• Master of the vessel had requested Hamad and Hazira port about leaking container and need to discharge same. The request was declined by both ports stating no specialist facilities available.
• May 20^th Vessel reported fire in a no. 2 cargo hold to Colombo Port Authority, fire was put off by vessel staff. Leaking nitric acid container was loaded on deck.
• May 21^st Due to reignition of fire Sri Lankan port authority and navy pressed into firefighting. Fire brought under control and cooling operation continued to prevent reignition.
• May 25^th An explosion took place in the cargo hold.
• May 29^th Vessel operator released statement that the firefighting has reduced the fire aboard and now only there is fire at the aft of the vessel.
• 2^nd June Vessel operator reported vessels aft is touching the seabed.
• 4^th June Vessel’s forward part is sinking slowly.

All crew were evacuated by Sri Lankan Navy.

Read Home | X-Press Pearl – Incident Information Centre (x-presspearl-informationcentre.com)

Sri Lanka is facing its worst environmental disaster after a container ship caught fire and is now sinking.

The oil and chemical spill from the X-Press Pearl in the Indian Ocean has impacted fishermen’s livelihoods after fishing was banned in the area. pic.twitter.com/uhd2PnGlRU

— AJ+ (@ajplus) June 4, 2021

Cause

Was the fire started due to leaking nitric acid? Or any reactive or self heating goods below deck? Or any misdeclared or undeclared goods?

As of now I believe no one knows the exact cause of fire. As the vessel had reported leaking container with nitric acid many concluded this leaking nitric acid may have reacted with other goods starting fire. For packing group I & II EmS Spillage schedule (S-Q) for nitric acid (on deck) advice 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 fire-fighting using four jets of water, as required by SOLAS regulation II-2/4.

“People are speculating that this (acid leak) led to the fire. Actually this (leaking container) was on deck. The fire started in the Number 02 hold.”

Capt. Nirmal de Silva, Harbour Master, Colombo (Source Economynext).

May be the investigators after analyzing all cargo data, stowage plans and debriefing the Master and the crew about the events will be able to zero in on the origin of fire.

Was this caused by misdeclared dangerous goods? We do not know, however, misdeclaration of dangerous goods is a real concern of the industry and various incidents had occurred in the past due to same. What prompts the shippers to misdeclare or undeclare dangerous goods? Is it to avoid hazardous surcharges or to pass through ports which has restriction for the goods? Read result of dangerous goods misdeclaration survey.

The coastline is contaminated with plastic pellets/ nurdles coming the debris of MV X-Press Pearl

Plastic pellets the building blocks of any plastic item and are a type of primary microplastic that wreak havoc in the environment#mvxpresspearl #plasticpollution #srilanka #lka pic.twitter.com/INUV3ZVW2B

— The Pearl Protectors (@PearlProtectors) May 26, 2021

Way forward

Looking back into history we can see that after the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912 the then world’s developed nations brought forth the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Convention in 1914.

In 1948 SOLAS Chapter VI came out first time with requirements for safe carriage of Grain and Dangerous Goods. Further SOLAS 1960 brought out Chapter VII dedicated for Carriage of Dangerous Goods. (read Origin and Evolution of IMDG Code )

2004 IMDG Code became mandatory for carriage of dangerous goods and marine pollutants in packaged form.

2010 IMDG Code made mandatory training for shoreside personnel. Read Ship fires often start ashore – exploring the causes of container ship fires (ttclub.com)

There were numerous fires aboard container ships in the last decade. Whenever a major fire breaks out the news remains alive for a short period and then all forget about it.

Are we all strictly following the IMDG Code in letter and spirit? 

After the fire on board Maersk Honam in 2018 NCB (National Cargo Bureau) upon request from Maersk Line engaged in inspection of containers to find any non-compliances. The NCB’s inspection found that out of 500 containers inspected 274 containers had improper securing, 109 & 40 dangerous goods import and export containers failed in marks/labels/placards, cargo securing and documentation. More than 50% non-dangerous goods containers failed in cargo securing.  (Read NCB White Paper on Container Inspection Initiative).

With these findings and considering the complicated vast network of the industry and thousands of personnel engaged in various capacities and responsibilities NCB published a white paper A comprehensive holistic approach to enhance safety and address the carriage of undeclared, misdeclared and other non-compliant dangerous goods.

Holistic – Characterized by comprehension of the parts of something as intimately interconnected and explicable only by reference to the whole.

The white paper puts forth below recommendations

• Establish a corporate culture for DG compliance
• Establish a Dangerous Goods department
• Establish a compliant DG training program
• Establish disciplined “cut-off” times
• Incorporate integrated digital tools
• Establish a DG documentation process
• Establish a DG planning process
• Adopt a risk-based strategy for stowage of dangerous goods
• Establish a receiving in-gate process for DG cargo
• Establish a DG container inspection program
• Establish a vessel inspection process for DG cargo
• Create one common, centralized DG data base

The levels of non-compliance observed indicate a system ripe for the type of disasters the industry has experienced over the last several years. This will continue unless a comprehensive holistic approach is adopted by the industry to attack the root of the problem and minimize non-compliance by all supply chain participants.

(Source NCB White Paper).

Download NCB White Paper A comprehensive holistic approach to enhance safety and address the carriage of undeclared, misdeclared and other non-compliant dangerous goods