Updated on July 27 11:25 with new comments from the Coast guard

The fire onboard the car carrier Fremantle Highway has not yet been extinguished with the Coast Guard and other companies and authorities assessing the situation further. The emergency connection established by the recovery vessel Hunter is still in place, keeping the vessel from drifting into the shipping lane, making sure it is freely accessible. 

To remind, shortly before midnight on Tuesday (July 25) the Coast Guard received a fire report on board the Fremantle Highway located some 27 kilometres north of Ameland. Various vessels, Maritime Incident Response Group and Coast Guard helicopters headed to the site.

While the helicopters had the fire brigade onboard, the inability to board the burning ship, helicopters helped with the evacuation. To remind, out of 23 crew members on board, one was reported dead and several sustained injuries as a number of them jumped overboard.

K Line asks Boskalis and Multraship to salvage the vessel

K Line, the operator of the vessel, has issued a brief comment about the incident, noting that the vessel was on its way from Bremen to Singapore. The vessel has a 2857 cars on board, 25 of which are electric vehicles. K Line added that it has already contacted the salvage company to rescue the vessel, with reports of Boskalis and Multraship being tagged for the job.

Rijkswaterstaat, together with the Coast Guard and the salvage companies remain alert. At the moment the fire cannot yet be extinguished as it could cause stability issues due to water in the vessel. It is also not yet possible for people to board the vessel, Rijkswaterstaat said.

In addition, survey and oil recovery vessel MS Arca arrived on location in the afternoon. If there is any oil leak, this response vessel is on site. Ship Barend Biesheuvel is nearby for support and the Frans Naerebout is also on its way to place any buoys, according to Rijkswaterstaat.

Coast Guard added that later in the morning the its plane will fly again to keep an eye on the ship and the situation. In total, according to the Coast Guard, there are eight vessels and two planes deployed at the site.

De situatie met de #FremantleHighway is stabiel, maar er kan pas tot slepen of berging worden overgegaan als de brand gedoofd is. Dat kan nog wel een langere periode duren. Wij blijven met @Kustwacht_nl en andere partners alert en houden je op de hoogte: https://t.co/vZXh4nRjPl pic.twitter.com/Moay1DvXdB

— Rijkswaterstaat (@Rijkswaterstaat) July 26, 2023

Fremantle Highway drifting and no longer cooled

According to some comments on the social media, the vessel has already drifted some 20 kilometres west of its initial reported situation. The Coast Guard confirmed the comments by saying that Fremantle Highway is currently located 16 km north of Terschelling.

The vessel is drifting in a westerly direction due to the wind and current. The Hunter still maintains an emergency towing connection to the burning vessel, which is currently kept outside the traffic lanes, so that shipping traffic can pass at a safe distance.

The fire is still raging on board and smoke billows from the ship. Coast Guard added that the ship is no longer being cooled, because unnecessary amounts of water must be prevented from getting on board. This endangers the stability of the ship. This was done earlier, because the fire was more intense then.

A recovery team on board the emergency tug Guardian monitors the situation. They’re gathering information for a salvage plan. The Coast Guard plane takes images from the air.

Risk to the UNESCO World Heritage Site

Throughout the day, Wadden Association issued a statement noting that the vessel should be moved as soon as possible to reduce the risk of damage to nature and the environment in the vulnerable Wadden Sea area, should any oil leak from the vessel.

Wadden Sea has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List and the Wadden Association noted that the salvage approach aims to bring the vessel as far away from the region as possible.

There is also a risk of impact on the North Sea, but the consequences are smaller there than on the Wadden Sea, the association said. This was also confirmed by Mark Harbers, caretaker minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, who said in his letter to the Dutch House of Representatives that the current and anticipated wind and wave direction for the coming days are such that any contamination will spread to the north, and therefore not to the Wadden Islands.