Water Mist Lance On-Board Container Vessels

The Malta Merchant Shipping Directorate, has issued an Information Notice in relation to the potential safety hazards associated with container fires, following the conclusion of the Marine Safety Investigation Report in relation to the container fire over the Malta Flagged vessel, MV X-Press Godavari, while anchored at offshore anchorage in India.

The X-Press Godavari was a 2008 built container vessel of 8'971GT with a length of 154.85m. It's minimum safe manning certificate required a crew of 13 and at the time of occurrence, there were 15 crew members onboard. On the 28th September 2020, the chief officer noted a container on deck emitting smoke during his anchor watch and following further investigations, the general alarm was raised for all crew to proceed and follow the vessel's fire contingency plan.  The cargo manifest of the container, indicated that lithium-ion batteries, having a gross weight of 7.4tons, were stowed inside the 40-foot container, amongst