Container fires

Container fires are becoming an ever-increasing concern amongst ships’ crews. Some container ships have been seriously damaged or lost due to the containerized cargoes catching fire. Such cargoes include Calcium Hypochlorite and Fireworks. Another cause of concern is that not all ships that carry containers are equipped with a means of piercing a container on fire, in order to extinguish it.

This course highlights several case studies on container fires and draws attention to important aspects of fighting such fires by ships’ crews.

Learning objectives:

• Provide a basic understanding of the properties of a fire
• Highlight the risk to which container ships are exposed
• Highlight firefighting innovations for container ships
• State the mandatory firefighting equipment for ships carrying dangerous goods
• Provide case studies of container fire casualties