SAMSA: Smoke onboard Maersk ship, update on pharma material cleanup

A container vessel, the Maersk Cincinnati had to be berthed in Richards Bay, South Africa, after smoke was detected onboard, both South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) and the vessel owner confirmed.

In a brief report to SAMSA, A.P Moller-Maersk Indian Subcontinent, Middle East & Africa Senior Media Relations Officer, Adhish Alawani stated: “We can confirm that smoke was reported from a cargo hold on one of our time-chartered vessels, Maersk Cincinnati, around midnight local South African time on 15 September 2024, while the vessel was sailing from Colombo to Port Tanger Med. There were no visible flames, and the cargo hold’s temperature remained controlled. Smoke is no longer visible. The crew immediately responded and initiated the required safety protocols on the vessel.”

“The ship owners have reported that all the crew members are safe and accounted for. The vessel owners are in touch with the crew to ensure they receive all possible support. The vessel is in stable condition, with all machinery, steering and navigational equipment fully operational,” Alawani added.

Maersk Cincinnati is a 15,500 TEU vessel built in 2024, operating on the Far East Asia – North Europe, and sailing under the flag of Hong Kong.

Pharma material collection

Meanwhile, SAMSA has ramped up efforts to collect the pharmaceutical material from the Indian Ocean coastline, after several dozens of containers had fallen off cargo vessels on the country’s eastern seaboard recently, due to bad wintry weather.

SAMSA, in a statement on 20 September said: “SAMSA is currently in the process of coordinating the cleanup and recovery of shipping containers, flotsam, associated pollutants, and products washing ashore along the South-East coastline of South Africa between the Wild Coast and Mossel Bay. This follows the loss of containers from at least three vessels over the past six weeks due to adverse weather conditions. In addition to the flotsam, SAMSA closely monitors pharmaceutical bottles containing pills that continue to wash ashore.”

SAMSA announced that is working in collaboration with relevant authorities and the owners of the affected vessel, with a monitoring, recovery and clean-up plan being rolled out across the affected area. Furthermore, environmental cleaning companies, Extreme Projects and SpillTech, have been appointed to lead the clean-up efforts.

Oil spill in Algoa Bay

Meanwhile, in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, the cleaning up of an oil spill off an MSC cargo vessel currently berthed in Algoa Bay continues, while an investigation into the cause is underway, SAMSA reported of the incident that occurred earlier in September.

Shortly after the oil spill discovery, SAMSA confirmed that a handful of penguins in the vicinity were found to have been oiled, and had been evacuated for cleaning.

As of the week of 9 September, indications by the incident management committee of the Incident Management Organisation (IMOrg) led by SAMSA and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE) were that the oil spill had since been successfully contained and cleaned up, with daily monitoring of the coastline in Algoa Bay returning reports of no further oil spill residue spotted. Additionally, no further wildlife was found as affected.

The vessel involved remains in Algoa Bay while an investigation into the incident is underway.