Container Ship Fire

Container ship fire may not sound important or even difficult to occur since the cargo is carefully packed in to strong weather resistant shipping containers, but this is not the case and each shipping container cargo must be declared, inspected and verified by the customs representative before being loaded on to a container shipping vessel.

This inspection is usually done by the customs department who must check the contents for any cargo that may require tax revenue to be paid but at the same time the officers check for any hazardous materials or cargo that may be hidden within the cargo as a safety measure. Container ship security and other law enforcement agencies also work together with the customs department to make sure that the cargo within each container has been declared and is safe for transportation.

This partnership plays a major role towards regulating safety on board a vessel since hazardous cargo could easily be loaded on to a container vessel if these stringent measures were not taken. Knowing that the cargo is safe make life easier for the crew since they can than concentrate all their effort towards the vessel without worrying about container contents, this does not ensure that container ship fire has been totally averted since most of the cargo within the containers is combustible if exposed to heat and flame. This shifts the pressure back to crew who must be vigilant concerning fire safety measures on board the vessel.

Modern technology has helped reduce the human burden in identifying fire or smoke but when identified it is up to the crew to fight and extinguish the fire before spreading or consuming the whole vessel. Extinguishing the fire at the earliest stage is critical since fire can only be contained up to a certain limit on board a vessel after which it becomes to unsafe for the crew who must abandon the vessel. Crew safety comes first during fire extinguishing exercises and if the master where to find it dangerous for the crew to continue than he must immediately alert for a evacuation in order to save lives that are more precious than any cargo or vessel.

Container ships may be carrying cargo that may see safe such as cooking oil, cloths or electronics such as Television sets but these types of cargo could prove to be highly dangerous when exposed to heat and flames. Extreme  heat could met and ignite the safe cargo and spread the fire faster than the original cause of fire, and some materials such as boiling oils and belted plastic as close to impossible to extinguish making it to unsafe for the crew to continue of the fire fighting mission.

Even though container ship fire is impossible to eliminate it is important to maintain the safety regulations and inspections to reduce the chances of transporting undeclared hazardous cargo that could greatly increase the chances of container ship fire making the situation worse for the crew than when they believe that the cargo has been inspected and is safe for transportation.