A ship operated by CMA CGM’s intra-Asia arm CNC Line had to make an emergency stop at Taiwan’s Taichung port after a fire broke out in a container carrying used bicycles.
According to the Taichung port authorities, they received a call for assistance from the 1,700 TEU Guangzhou Trader around 8 am local time on 1 August. At the time, Guangzhou Trader was 6.4 nautical miles south of Taichung.
Guangzhou Trader, assigned to CNC Line’s JTX service, was sailing from Japan to Thailand. The 2016-built ship is chartered by UK-based Lomar Corporation.
Although the ship’s crew extinguished the fire themselves, due to concerns of re-ignition, Guangzhou Trader entered Taichung Port at 12.30 pm on 1 August and stopped at Pier 10 to unload the container that had caught fire.
Taichung Port’s fire brigade dispatched two fire trucks to the scene to spray water on Guangzhou Trader and the burnt container was unloaded an hour later. There were no reports of injuries to the crew.
Preliminary investigations showed that spontaneous combustion of electric components in the used bicycles caused the fire, but the exact cause of the fire will be investigated.
The container was offloaded and the ship continued its voyage. CMA CGM had not responded to Container News’ request for comment at the time of publication.
Martina Li
Asia Correspondent
