Damaged car freighter
“Fremantle Highway” now in Rotterdam – repair possible?
The car freighter “Fremantle Highway”, which was badly damaged in a fire, arrived in Rotterdam after a two-day journey from Eemshaven in Groningen. photo
© Marco Hoope/ANP/dpa
The freighter is pulled by tugs and kept stable – this is what the transport of the “Fremantle Highway” from Eemshaven to Rotterdam looked like. The ship should be made sailable again if possible.
Two months after a devastating fire broke out on the Fremantle Highway Car freighter arrived in the port of Rotterdam on Saturday. Now, if possible, the giant transporter should be made operational again at a dock owned by the shipbuilder Damen Shiprepair.
The work is expected to take four to five months, a spokesman for maritime services company Koole Contractors said. What could happen to the ship afterwards is still unclear.
Fire in July
A fire broke out on the “Fremantle Highway” on the night of July 26th, not far from the North Sea island of Ameland, which caused severe damage to the ship and its cargo. One person died during the evacuation of the freighter and the other 22 crew members were injured.
In Rotterdam, the freighter, which had around 3,800 cars on board when the fire broke out, will first be subjected to a thorough inspection. Experts also hope that this will provide clues to the cause of the fire, which is still unclear. The coast guard initially suspected that an electric car could have been the source of the fire. There has been no confirmation of this so far.
After the inspection, the ship will be partially dismantled. “Whatever is not damaged will be retained for possible later reconstruction,” the Koole spokesman said. “The goal and the appeal of this thing is to try to clean up the damage, repair the rest and get the ship sailing again.”
Smooth ride
The freighter was picked up by three tugs on Thursday from its temporary berth in Eemshaven, not far from the border with Lower Saxony. According to the spokesman, the journey along the Dutch North Sea coast, which was watched by many onlookers, went smoothly.
The ship belonging to a Japanese shipping company was towed to Eemshaven at the beginning of August. The fire had previously raged for days. In Eemshaven, some of the approximately 3,800 cars still on board were cleaned in an ecologically friendly manner and then parked in a specially protected area. The upper area of the ship was so heated in the fire that many vehicles melted into the deck. According to experts, around 2,700 cars were completely destroyed.