Sunday, June 29, 2025
Home News PIL ship on fire in NZ’s Napier port

PIL ship on fire in NZ’s Napier port

Fire broke out in the cargo holds of one of Pacific International Lines’ (PIL) container-carrying general cargo ships in the morning of 18 December.

New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission said that the incident happened while the 1,497TEU Kota Bahagia was berthed in Napier port.

The commission, which is investigating the cause of the fire, said that all crew on Kota Bahagia have been accounted for. An inquiry is opened when the commission believes the circumstances of an incident is – or is likely to have – significant implications for transport safety, or when the inquiry may allow the commission to make findings or recommendations to improve transport safety.

Chief accident investigator Harald Hendel said, “The Investigation team have expert knowledge of marine operations, engineering, maintenance and electronic forensics.

“Their initial work will include interviewing witnesses and inspecting affected parts and cargo of the ship when safe to do so.”

PIL said in a statement to Container News that the fire happened during normal cargo operations.

The Singaporean liner operator stated, “The fire was immediately extinguished with assistance from the terminal. All personnel including the crew are reported safe and there was no environmental damage or pollution caused. PIL is working closely with local authorities to investigate the causes of the fire and will do all necessary to restore vessel operations.”

Photo of fire on Kota Bahagia (credit Transport Accident Investigation Commission)

Martina Li
Asia Correspondent





Latest Posts

UWL announces vessel partnership with Emirates Shipping Line

UWL, a leading American-owned NVOCC (Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier) and global logistics provider, welcomes Emirates Shipping Line as the new vessel partner for its...

Sea-Intelligence: Port Power Rankings

 Sea-Intelligence analyses port performance in terms of schedule reliability, across the 202 deep-sea ports with the largest number of container vessel calls, by creating...

Suez slowdown reshapes Red Sea’s port map

The macro picture of the Red Sea is worsen as canal transits are at half-mast, and the region has relinquished its role as the...

We asked AI: When containers become pools

We asked AI what a container might look like if it was trasformed into a pool. The result? Long steel containers, many of them stacked,...

Transpacific crash may normalise charter market

Containership charter rates, which have defied the freight slump for some time, could be peaking, as some small ships chartered by opportunistic operators for...
error: Content is protected !!