General Average Declared on Fire-Damaged Maersk Frankfurt

A general average has been declared on the Maersk Frankfurt, a newly built 5,500 TEU container ship that caught fire a week ago.

Containers onboard the vessel will not be released for further transport or delivery until cargo interests have made the necessary security arrangements through the general average adjusters, Richards Hogg Lindley. This step is required once the containers are safely discharged at a secure location.

Despite significant efforts by the Indian Coast Guard to extinguish the fire, small blazes continue to be reported in several containers. Professional salvage experts are now aboard the vessel, assisting the Coast Guard in assessing the damage and planning the next steps for the vessel and the ongoing firefighting efforts.

Aerial photographs of the vessel show soot on containers in the third and fifth rows, indicating that the fire was concentrated around the fourth row, according to analysis by cargo insurer WK Webster.

The Maersk Frankfurt, built by Imabari and delivered in June, is owned by Tokei Kaiun of Japan. The ship is chartered to Maersk and managed by a Hong Kong unit of Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, according to data from Equasis.